That morning the sky was grey, and a soft rain was falling, the kind that goes "tap tap" on the windows. Ziggy, Lily, Skye and Dash were playing under the porch, jumping into the puddles with their colorful little boots. Dash, who was the fastest of them all, was racing against himself: he ran from one end of the yard to the other, then zoomed back like an arrow.

"I'm faster than a sneeze!" he shouted, and he always ended up sliding on his bottom on the wet grass. Everybody laughed.

Then, all at once, the rain stopped. A big rainbow appeared in the sky, with all its colors side by side, like a giant slide hanging from the clouds.

"Look!" said Skye, in her sweet little voice, pointing up high.

And right at that moment they heard a sound the four friends knew very well:

"CHOO CHOOO! CHOO CHOOO!"

From behind the rainbow popped Toby the Magic Train, all shiny, with smoke that smelled of cotton candy. He stopped in front of them and said, as always, in rhyme:

"Hello, little friends, come and climb up with me,
today we will play and we'll laugh, wild and free!
A garden of kings is awaiting tonight,
where the night has forgotten to shine so bright!"

The children looked at each other, curious. A garden of kings? A night that had forgotten to shine? What could that mean? They scrambled aboard the little car, and Toby set off whistling, crossing the rainbow like a dive into the colors.

When the little train stopped, it was already evening. But what a strange evening! The children climbed down into a beautiful garden: there were fountains that went "splish splash," stone statues, and green hedges trimmed into the shapes of animals. One hedge looked like a lion, another like an elephant, and another like a rabbit with long ears.

"How wonderful!" said Lily, her blue eyes wide open.

But there was a problem: it was all dark. There was no moon in the sky. Only a big grey cloud, round and puffy, sitting there all stiff and proud.

"Brrr, so dark," said Dash. "I can't see a thing!"

Just then, from behind a bush, came a big commotion. "Ouch! Oof! Oops!" And then, rolling and bumbling, out popped a teeny tiny little man, with a pointy red hat. He did three somersaults by mistake and landed head-first in a flower bed.

"Good eveniiiing!" said the little man, pulling his face out of the soil. He had a funny smell about him, of fresh-cut grass and warm cookies. "I am Gnappo, the gardener gnome. I take care of this garden at night, so nobody sees me make a mess."

"Why is it all so dark, Gnappo?" asked Skye.

Gnappo stood up, tripped again, and sighed. "It's the moon. She's hidden behind that cloud. Tonight there was supposed to be a big party at the castle, but without the moon we can't do anything! The moon is shy, you know? She thinks nobody really wants her. And so she went and hid all her glow away."

"Glow?" asked Dash, scratching his head. "What does glow mean?"

"Glow means her beautiful, bright light," explained Gnappo. "When the moon glows, she turns everything silver."

"Ahh!" said the children all together.

"And how do we make her come back?" asked Lily, with that determined spark she always had.

Gnappo raised one finger. "The only way is to show her how much fun we have down here. If she sees how lovely it is to be in the world, maybe she'll start to glow again!"

Dash's eyes lit up like two light bulbs. "Fun? That's my job! Let's do... the Garden Mini-Olympics! Races, jumps, dashes! The moon won't be able to resist!"

"HOORAY!" they all shouted.

And so began the funniest games anyone had ever seen.

The first was the race around the fountains. Dash shot off like a rocket. "Look how I flyyy!" But the moss on the edges was as slippery as soap. Dash slid a very, very long slide, "wheeee!", flew into the air, and landed sitting right on top of the lion statue. "Well, hello!" he said, holding on to the stone ears. "I didn't know I could ride lions!"

Everybody burst out laughing. "Ladies and gentlemen," said Dash from up on the lion, in a silly voice, "welcome to the Royal Garden Circus!" And he took a bow, but as he bowed he lost his balance and tumbled straight down into a rabbit-shaped hedge, with his legs sticking up in the air like two long ears. "Now I'm a rabbit too!" he shouted, and wiggled his way out. Even the cloud, perhaps, wobbled a little bit with the giggles. But the moon did not come out.

The second game was the animal-hedge jump. You had to leap over the elephant-shaped hedge. Ziggy took a running start. "I'm a kangaroo!" he shouted, and sprang up sky-high. But he judged it all wrong and "floomp!", he landed inside the hedge, with only his little feet poking out, waving "bye-bye." "I'm... inside the elephant!" said his muffled voice from inside the leaves. Lily and Dash had to pull him out by the ankles, and when he came out he had a leaf on his nose and looked just like a little green elephant.

Laughter that would not stop. Lily, who wanted to play the game for real, tried to jump the rabbit-hedge with a very long running start. Off she went, sure of herself, "now I'll show you how it's done!", but just at the best part she stepped on a pumpkin the gardener had forgotten. The pumpkin rolled away, "wobble-wobble-wobble!", and Lily found herself surfing on top of the pumpkin across the whole lawn, arms held wide so she wouldn't fall. "Help, I can't swim on pumpkins!" she shouted, while the others chased after her, laughing. In the end the pumpkin bumped into the fountain and Lily landed softly in a bush of flowers, all sweet-smelling. But the moon, nothing. She stayed hidden.

The third game was the dive into the water-lily pond. It was Gnappo's turn to be the judge. He picked up his silver watering can, the magic one, that instead of water sprayed out glowing fireflies. "On my mark!" he said. But as he waved the watering can, he tripped over his own feet, "oopsy-daisy!", and the fireflies splashed everywhere: one landed in his hat, two up his nose, ten flew off to tickle Lily, who started laughing and sneezing all at the same time, "a-a-a-choo, ha-ha, a-choo!"

It was a beautiful, glowing mess. For a moment the garden sparkled with little golden dots. The children thought: "Now the moon will surely come out!"

But no. In fact, the harder they tried to make the games perfect and spectacular, the darker the garden became. The grey cloud seemed to grow big and puffy, as if it were hiding even more.

Dash stopped, panting. "I don't understand," he said. "We run, we jump, we dive... and the moon runs away anyway. The faster we go, the more everything goes dark."

Gnappo sat down on a rock, sad. "Maybe the party will never happen."

There was a moment of silence. The fountains went "splish" ever so softly. It was the darkest moment of the night.

But right then, something happened. Little Skye, who had stayed quietly to one side, watching, did not run and did not jump. She walked with her light little steps into the middle of the lawn. She raised her little hand toward that big grey cloud. And in her sweet, sweet little voice, she said:

"We miss you, moon. Please don't hide. Come and play with us. We love you."

She didn't shout. She didn't play any game. Just a little wave of her hand, and a few kind words.

And then... the magic happened.

The big grey cloud opened slowly, like a curtain. And from behind it peeked the moon. A round, silvery face, a little bit shy, with two cheeks that looked pink with embarrassment. She looked at Skye. Then she smiled.

And her glow lit up all at once.

The garden filled with silver light. The fountains gleamed, the statues shimmered, the animal-hedges seemed alive. The moon had become a giant lantern hanging in the sky, and she lit up every corner.

"You did it, Skye!" shouted Dash, jumping for joy. "Not with running, not with speed... but with one little, kind hello!"

Skye blushed and smiled. Gnappo began to cry with happiness, "sniff, how wonderful!", and of course he tripped and fell into the flower bed again, but this time he was laughing.

"And now," said Dash, "the REAL Mini-Olympics begin! With the moon shining down on us!"

And what a party it was! They really did race around the fountains, they jumped the hedges laughing, they dove into the water-lily pond with great big "splashes!" Ziggy rode the stone lion, Lily won the barefoot race on the grass, Gnappo sprayed fireflies over everyone like confetti. And the moon, way up high, laughed and winked, happy to have been invited to the party.

When they were all tired and happy, they heard the familiar whistle again: "CHOO CHOOO! CHOO CHOOO!"

Along came Toby the Magic Train, with his lanterns lit. He looked at the garden all lit up and said, in rhyme:

"How lovely the moon that shines up above,
and all that it took was a hello of love!
No need to race, and no need to compete:
one kind little gesture is ever so sweet!"

The children climbed aboard, waving goodbye to Gnappo with their hands. "Thank you, friends!" said the gnome, and he fell over backward one last time, laughing. The moon went with them with her light as the little train crossed the sky, and she carried them home, where a night full of silvery dreams was waiting for them.

And from that evening on, every time they saw the moon in the sky, the four friends waved hello to her with their little hands. Because they had learned that, sometimes, you don't need to be the fastest or do the most spectacular things: one small, kind gesture is enough to change everything.