The little star Stella loved games. Her favourite was hide-and-seek with the cheerful meteoroids, which whizzed through space like silver balls. “Five, four, three, two, one… Ready or not, here I come!” shouted her friend, a small grey meteoroid named Dusty. Stella giggled and swiftly hid behind a huge red gas cloud. She was sure no one would find her there. She waited and waited, but no one came. “They must not be able to find me,” she thought proudly. She flew out of her hiding spot and was about to shout “I found myself!”, but she remained silent. Around her, there was nothing she recognized. No Dusty, no her home Sun, no familiar planets. There was only a deep, silent darkness, dotted with strange, distant little lights. “Hello?” she whispered, her small voice lost in the infinite space. Suddenly, she felt very small and lost. She started to fly from place to place, but everything looked the same. From one of her points, a tiny, hot tear began to fall. What if she never returned home?
Suddenly, she saw something shimmering. It looked like a long, sparkling ribbon. “That must be the way home!” she rejoiced and quickly flew closer. When she reached the shimmering thing, she found it was not a path, but the tail of a giant ball of ice. “Do not disturb!” thundered a deep voice. It was an old, grumpy comet. “I am napping on my journey around the sun. It will take me another two hundred years.” “I’m sorry, Mrs. Comet,” chirped Stella. “I… I’m lost. I’m looking for the way home.” The comet sized her up with its single, icy eye. “Home? Everything looks the same out here. Just stars. Look for a pattern, not just a single light,” she muttered and slowly flew on, leaving only dust and coldness behind her.
Stella sighed. A pattern? What kind of pattern? All the stars seemed the same to her. She tried to remember what her home looked like. She remembered her big, warm Sun and the planets that danced around it. One was blue, another red, and one had beautiful rings. But from here, from so far away, she couldn't see any of that. “I’ll make my own path!” she decided bravely. She tried leaving tiny sparks behind her to mark where she flew. But the sparks faded into the darkness after a moment. That didn't work either. She felt helpless again.
She sat on a small dark asteroid and cried softly. Her tears turned into tiny, sparkling crystals and fell into the void. Just then, a gentle, deep sound reached her. It sounded like a thousand bells at once. The space around her lit up in sapphire, and from the darkness emerged a huge, majestic spiral full of lights. It was so large that Stella felt like a speck of dust. It was the Wise Galaxy. “Why are you crying, little light?” its voice spoke, which was neither male nor female. It was the voice of the universe itself. “I’m lost,” sobbed Stella. “I don’t know where my Sun and my planet friends are.” The Wise Galaxy looked at her kindly with its millions of stars. “Do not be afraid, every star has its place. You just have to know what to look for. Your home is part of a large family called the Milky Way.” “The Milky Way?” repeated Stella. “That sounds delicious. Is it made of milk?” The Galaxy laughed, and its laughter made the whole universe tremble. “No, it is not. But it looks like it from a distance. Imagine someone has spilled fine, sparkling sugar in the dark, creating a path. Look for this path. It is a silver band that stretches across the entire universe. When you find it, fly along it. It is your home street.”
Stella stopped crying. A path of spilled sugar! That sounded like a great riddle. She thanked the Wise Galaxy and, with new hope, set off on her journey. Now she was no longer looking for just one light, but a whole band of little lights. She flew on, looking around carefully. And then she saw it. In the distance, a faint, silver band truly did stretch out, as if someone had painted a milky line across black paper with a brush. “That’s it!” she exclaimed joyfully and headed towards it. The closer she got, the more she realized how huge that path was. And it wasn't sugar at all. It was stars! Millions, billions of stars, all twinkling and dancing together, close to one another, creating a beautiful, glowing stream. “Welcome home,” whispered the stars she flew past. She could feel their warmth and friendship. She flew along this amazing band and suddenly saw something very familiar. A yellow, warm light that shone warmer than all the others. “My Sun!” she cried out and flew towards it. And there, circling it, were her old friends. The blue planet Earth, reddish Mars, and Saturn with its rings. And flying among them was Dusty and the other meteoroids. “Stella! You’re back!” they all shouted excitedly. Stella told everyone about her adventure. About the grumpy comet, her own failed attempts, and about the Wise Galaxy and its riddle. “So, we all live in the Milky Way?” asked Dusty curiously. “Yes,” said Stella proudly. “And it’s the most beautiful street in the whole universe. It looks like spilled sugar and is full of friends.” That evening, they all looked together at the beautiful silver band that stretched above their heads. It was no longer just a pile of little lights, but their home.
What do you think, children? The next time you look up at the dark night sky, far from the city lights, will you try to find that silver path with your mom or dad? Perhaps you might even see little Stella on it, waving to her friends.