The Gentle Hush of the Midnight Air
A magical spirit called the Hush takes sleepy Jonah on a nighttime journey, showing him that all creatures—frogs, crickets, owls, flowers—sing lullabies to help children dream peacefully.
- 3 min read
The Gentle Hush of the Midnight Air whispered through Jonah’s window one sleepy summer night.
Jonah sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes. “Who’s there?” he asked softly.
“Shhhhhh,” came the answer, gentle as butterfly wings. “I am the Hush, and I travel the world when children should be dreaming. Would you like to come with me?”
Jonah nodded, and suddenly—whoooosh—he was floating, light as a dandelion seed, right out his window and into the velvet sky.
The Hush wrapped around him like the softest blanket ever woven. Together they drifted over sleeping houses with their chimney pots pointing at the stars.
“Listen,” whispered the Hush. “Do you hear the lullabies of the world?”
Jonah listened very carefully with his very best listening ears.
From the pond at the edge of town came the deep, rhythmic songs of the bullfrogs: “Jug-o-rum, jug-o-rum, close your eyes, the night has come.”
“They sing to the tadpoles,” explained the Hush, swirling gently around Jonah’s shoulders.
They floated further, over the meadow where the crickets played their tiny violins: “Chirp-chirp-chirrup, chirp-chirp-chirrup, rest your head, don’t stay up.”
“The cricket orchestra!” Jonah giggled quietly.
“Every creature has a bedtime song,” the Hush murmured. “Shall we hear more?”
They drifted to the forest, where an owl called from an old oak tree: “Hoo-hoo-hoo, whoo-whoo-whoo, the moon is watching over you.”
Beneath the owl’s tree, a family of rabbits nestled in their burrow. A mother rabbit thumped her foot ever so gently: “Thump-thump, thump-thump, sleepy-sleep, thump-thump.”
“She’s patting her babies to sleep,” Jonah whispered, and the Hush hummed in agreement—a sound like wind through willow trees.
Over the babbling brook they floated, where the water sang its ancient song: “Bubble-bobble, ripple-rest, close your eyes, you’ve done your best.”
The brook’s melody mixed with the rustling reeds: “Swish-swoosh, swish-swoosh, peaceful dreams will come to you.”
“Everything sings at night,” Jonah marveled, his eyes growing heavier and heavier, like little curtains wanting to close.
“Not quite everything,” said the Hush mysteriously. “We have one more stop.”
They floated up, up, up, until they reached the very top of the tallest hill, where wildflowers grew in a midnight garden. Here, the flowers were humming—yes, actually humming!—as they swayed in the moonlight.
The roses hummed low: “Mmmmm-mmmmm-mmmmm.”
The daisies hummed high: “Hmmmmm-hmmmmm-hmmmmm.”
And all together, the flower choir sang: “Sleep, little one, sleep. The stars will watch while you dream deep.”
Jonah yawned the biggest yawn that ever was yawned.
“Are you sleepy now?” asked the Hush tenderly.
“Yes,” Jonah mumbled, his eyes now barely open at all.
“Then it’s time to take you home,” whispered the Hush.
They drifted back over the meadow (where the crickets still chirped), past the pond (where the frogs still croaked), around the forest (where the owl still hooted), and through Jonah’s open window, landing as soft as a feather on his pillow.
The Hush tucked itself around Jonah like the coziest quilt in all the world.
“Remember,” the Hush breathed so quietly that it was more of a feeling than a sound, “every night, the whole world sings you to sleep. The frogs and the crickets, the brooks and the breezes, the flowers and the stars—they all sing the same song:
Sleep, dear child, sleep. The night will hold you. Sleep, dear child, sleep. Until morning unfolds you.”
Jonah smiled in his dreams, because now he knew: he was never alone at bedtime. The whole world was singing him lullabies, every single night.
And somewhere between the cricket’s chirp and the bullfrog’s jug-o-rum, between the owl’s hoot and the brook’s babble, Jonah fell into the deepest, sweetest, most peaceful sleep—wrapped in the gentle hush of the midnight air.
Shhhhhhhhh.
The End
(Now close your eyes, dear one, and listen… can you hear the lullabies too?)