That morning a mischievous little wind was blowing. It made the leaves dance and ruffled everyone's hair. Ziggy, Lily, Skye, and Dash were in the garden flying kites made of colorful paper. Ziggy had built his kite all by himself: a yellow square with a long tail of little bows.

"Look how high it goes!" shouted Ziggy, running barefoot on the grass. His four cats hopped along behind him: Sofia, the sweet little black cat, Dora, the brave tabby, and the two brothers Poldo and Milo. Poldo was fat and round like a cushion, while Milo was tall and quick and jumped so high it looked like he could fly.

"Mine spins like a top!" laughed Dash, fast as always.

Lily held the string tight with her small, sure hands, and Skye watched the sky with a calm smile. It was a warm day, not too hot and not too cold, the perfect kind of day for playing outside.

All of a sudden the wind carried a sound they knew. "CHOO CHOO! CHOO CHOO!"

From behind the hedge popped out Toby the Magic Train, shiny and smiling, with little curls of smoke rising into the sky.

"Climb aboard, climb aboard, come and fly here with me,
we'll go to the sweetest of towns you will see!
A town made of candy, so yummy to eat,
where soft fluffy clouds love to dance to a beat!"

The children clapped their hands and climbed up in a rush. The four cats jumped in too, even Poldo, who took a little while because he was so heavy. Toby whistled happily and set off through the clouds.

When he stopped, the children stared with their mouths wide open. In front of them was a whole town made of sweets. It was called Sugarton. The houses were made of gingerbread, the lamp posts were giant lollipops, the bridges were made of soft licorice, and through the middle ran a river of warm chocolate that smelled wonderful from far away. And above the rooftops, low, low down, floated big clouds of cotton candy, pink and blue.

But something was wrong.

The town was still. Sad. Quiet.

The people of Sugarton were little sweets with tiny legs: candies, cookies, and chocolates. They stood still near their houses, with droopy faces, looking up at the clouds with watery eyes.

"What's wrong?" asked Skye in a soft voice, walking up to a cookie with little icing glasses.

"Our clouds..." sighed the cookie. "They used to be soft, and we could walk on top of them. Every morning we climbed up there to go to the market in the sky, where they sell sugar stars and drops of dew. We jumped to say hello, we danced among the clouds! Then, one night, everything turned stiff. The clouds went hard like stones, and nobody can climb up anymore. We've lost our special way of moving."

Lily crossed her arms, ready for anything. "Then we have to fix the clouds!"

"But how do we do that?" said Dash, scratching his head.

Just then, from a hill of powdered sugar came a light little sound, like a sleepy bell. On a sparkling rock sat a clear crystal that shone with a thousand colors. It was the Singing Crystal, keeper of the town's melody.

Ziggy walked up to it slowly and stroked it with one finger. The crystal woke up and sang softly, as if it were sharing a secret:

"On the clouds you must never walk heavy and slow... you fly soft and light like two dancing threads, you know."

Then the crystal made a wrong sound, like a broken note, and grew dark. "My song has cracked," it whispered. "Without the right melody, the clouds won't know how to dance anymore."

"What does dancing threads mean?" asked Dash, puzzled.

"It means light, very light, like when the wind makes a ribbon move," explained Skye gently.

Poldo, the big fat cat, puffed out his chest. "Oh, please! I'll climb up on those clouds right now. You just need muscles!" And with a clumsy leap he threw himself at the nearest cloud.

PLOP!

Poldo sank into the cotton candy up to his ears, with only his tail sticking out and wiggling. The children burst out laughing, and even the sad little sweets couldn't help smiling.

"Help! Pull me out!" meowed Poldo.

Dora and Milo pulled him by the tail until, with a funny POP, Poldo popped out all sticky with sugar.

"You see?" said Lily. "Strength isn't enough. The harder you push, the deeper you sink."

Ziggy stayed quiet. He looked at the clouds. He looked at the crystal. He listened in his head to those words: light like dancing threads. And he thought about playing jump rope in the garden: you mustn't stomp your feet hard, you have to jump in time, light, up and down, up and down.

And then, all at once, an idea lit up in his eyes.

"Aha! I've got it!" shouted Ziggy, jumping up. "We don't have to be strong! We have to be light and stay in time! Just like jumping rope! The cloud won't hold us if we throw ourselves down heavy, but if we dance light, very light, following the crystal's music, it carries us!"

Skye smiled. "Like a dance!"

"Exactly!" said Ziggy. "Crystal, you sing your melody, and we'll dance on the clouds to your beat. That way your song will be whole again, and the clouds will learn all over again!"

The crystal tried to sing. Ting... ting... ting-ting-ting... A small, trembling little melody.

Ziggy closed his eyes, listened to the beat, and made his first soft jump onto the cloud.

This time he did not sink.

He touched the cotton candy with the tips of his toes, light as a feather, and the cloud held him up. Ziggy jumped again, in time, up and down, and with every jump the crystal's melody became a little bit clearer.

"Come on, Milo!" called Ziggy.

Milo, the cat with the big jumps, sprang out in front of everyone to lead the way. He leaped from one cloud to the next, light as the wind, and wherever he passed the clouds puffed up happily. Behind him came Lily, careful and sure, then Dash who laughed at every bounce, and last of all Skye, sweet and calm, holding the hand of a frightened little chocolate to give it courage.

The notes were coming back, one after another, and the clouds slowly began to move in time, as if they were dancing.

But now came the hard part.

Ziggy, swept up in all the excitement, made one jump a little too hard. For a moment he forgot to stay light, he stomped the cloud with his heel and... sploff! He fell down into the cotton candy.

He didn't get hurt, because it was soft as a cushion. But Ziggy stayed there, sitting in the cloud, with his lip trembling.

"I can't do it," he said quietly. "I messed up. Maybe I'm just not good enough."

The crystal's melody stopped again. Everyone held their breath.

Then Sofia, the little black cat, jumped over next to Ziggy. She didn't say anything, because cats don't talk. She rubbed against his cheek, purred very softly, and licked his little hand with her rough little tongue. It was as if she were saying: "It's all okay. Try again. I'm here with you."

Ziggy felt a warm little glow in his chest. He looked at Sofia, he looked at his friends waiting for him with smiles, he looked at the little sweets of Sugarton who were hoping in him.

And he understood something.

He hadn't messed up because he was weak. He had messed up because he forgot to listen to his heart. The strength to get back up didn't come from his legs, or from muscles like Poldo's. It came from inside, from that warm little glow Sofia had lit in him.

"You're right, Sofia," said Ziggy, wiping his eyes. "I'll try again. With my heart."

He stood up on the cloud, took a deep breath, and listened to the music again. This time he didn't think about jumping hard. He only thought about how much he wanted to help his friends in Sugarton.

And he jumped, light as a snowflake.

The cloud caught him and bounced him up gently. Ziggy laughed with joy. The crystal's melody finally burst out whole, clear and bright, like a song that had remembered itself.

All the cotton-candy clouds began to dance. Up and down, this way and that, in a great pink and blue dance. The little sweets of Sugarton climbed up in a line, light, very light, following the beat, laughing and hopping toward the market in the sky. Even Poldo found his place: he sat down beside the crystal and with his big paws went "boom boom boom" like a drum, keeping the beat for everyone.

The town was moving again. Sugarton was dancing once more.

"Thank you, Ziggy," sang the Singing Crystal, shining with all its colors. "You understood the secret: you don't win over the cloud with the strength of your muscles, but with the lightness of your heart."

When it was time to go home, the children said goodbye to the sweets and the crystal. Skye hugged the cookie with the little glasses, who was smiling happily now.

"CHOO CHOO! CHOO CHOO!" Toby the Magic Train was ready.

"Climb aboard, climb aboard, now it's time to go home,
with hearts feather-light through the clouds we will roam!
It's never the strongest who carries the day,
but the soft, gentle heart that finds the right way!"

The children laughed, climbed aboard, and with the four cats curled up against them they went back home, while outside the shining sun warmed their cheeks like a cozy hug.

And that night, as he fell asleep, Ziggy dreamed of dancing among the clouds again, light, so light, with Sofia purring inside his heart.