Rocking the Sky to Sleep
A girl named Eve discovers a moonbeam ladder and rocks the sky to sleep each night with gentle hands, song, and love.
- 5 min read
Rocking the Sky to Sleep
Every evening, just before bedtime, Eve noticed something curious. While other children climbed into their beds, she watched the sky turn pink, then purple, then the deepest blue—and she wondered: who tucks the sky in at night?
One twilight evening, as the first star blinked awake, Eve heard a gentle humming coming from her window. When she peeked outside, a silvery ladder made entirely of moonbeams stretched down from the clouds, right to her backyard.
“Well,” said Eve, adjusting her pajamas, “that’s not something you see every Tuesday.”
Up she climbed, rung by rung, higher and higher, until she stepped onto a cloud as soft as her favorite blanket. And there, sitting in the most magnificent rocking chair she’d ever seen, was a very small, very sleepy Moon.
The Moon was no bigger than Eve herself, with round cheeks and heavy eyelids. Beside the Moon sat Sun, already in striped pajamas, yawning enormously.
“Oh, thank goodness you’re here!” said a fluffy cloud shaped exactly like a sheep. “We’ve been waiting for someone with gentle hands.”
“Waiting for me?” asked Eve.
“Indeed!” baaed the cloud-sheep. “Every night, someone must rock the sky to sleep, or it stays wide awake, and then NOBODY can sleep—not the stars, not the Moon, not the Sun, and certainly not the children below.”
Eve looked at the enormous rocking chair. It was painted with constellations that twinkled and moved, and its runners stretched across three clouds.
“But how do I rock something as big as the sky?” Eve asked.
“The same way you’d rock anything to sleep,” said the cloud-sheep wisely. “Gently, slowly, and with love.”
So Eve climbed into the great rocking chair. The Moon and Sun snuggled in beside her, already rubbing their eyes. She placed her feet on the cloud below and gave the gentlest push.
Creeeeak-whoooosh
The entire sky began to sway. The stars swished softly from side to side.
“That’s lovely,” murmured the Moon. “But we’ll need a lullaby, too.”
Eve thought for a moment, then began to sing a song that seemed to come from somewhere deep in her heart:
“Rock-a-bye sky, so big and so wide, Time for the Sun and the Moon to hide. Stars, close your twinkles, clouds, settle down, Night is here to wear its crown.”
As she rocked and sang, the most magical things began to happen.
The stars, one by one, pulled up blankets made of stardust and yawned tiny golden yawns. A family of clouds shaped like elephants trumpeted softly and curled into sleeping circles. Even the wind slowed its rushing and settled into a gentle, breathing breeze.
Creeeeak-whoooosh
Rock, rock, rock
“Keep going,” whispered the cloud-sheep, who was now resting its fluffy head on the arm of the rocking chair.
Eve rocked slower now, swaying with the rhythm of the sleepy sky. She sang softer:
“Dream of tomorrow, soft and bright, Rest your sparkles through the night. Sky so deep and sky so high, Close your endless, starry eye.”
The Moon’s breathing became deep and even. The Sun let out one last tremendous yawn and mumbled, “See you at sunrise,” before drifting off completely.
All across the sky, a peaceful quiet settled like snow. The Milky Way dimmed its light to a soft glow, perfect for sleeping. The constellations stopped their dancing and held still in sleepy poses. Even the planets in the distance seemed to slow their spinning.
Creeeeak-whoooosh
Eve rocked more gently still, barely moving now.
The cloud-sheep’s eyes were closed, and tiny snores came from the Moon and Sun. The whole sky had finally, finally fallen asleep.
“Well done,” came a whisper so quiet Eve almost didn’t hear it. Looking up, she saw the Night itself—or perhaps the Night was all around her—speaking in a voice like silk. “The sky is sleeping soundly, thanks to you.”
“Does someone do this every night?” Eve whispered back.
“Someone different,” said the Night. “Someone who remembers that even the biggest, brightest things need gentleness and rest. Tonight, it was you.”
Eve felt herself growing sleepy too. Her own eyes were getting heavier, and the rocking chair felt wonderfully comfortable.
“Time for you to sleep as well, little rocker of skies,” said the Night, and suddenly Eve was being lowered gently, gently down on the moonbeam ladder, floating like a feather, until she landed softly in her own bed.
She opened her eyes just enough to see her window, where the sky outside was peacefully, perfectly asleep—stars dimmed, Moon snoozing, everything quiet and calm.
Eve smiled and snuggled into her pillow.
“Sleep tight, Sky,” she whispered.
And because the sky was sleeping so soundly, and the night was so perfectly peaceful, Eve fell asleep too—the best sleep she’d ever had, full of dreams of rocking chairs and gentle stars and the softest clouds imaginable.
Creeeeak-whoooosh, went the memory of the rocking chair in her dreams.
Rock, rock, rock, went the world as it spun slowly through the night.
And everyone—the sky, the stars, the Moon, the Sun, and Eve—slept soundly until morning.
The End
Sleepy time now, close your eyes, Eve has rocked the sleepy skies. Dreams are waiting, soft and deep, Time for you to fall asleep.