About this story
Pippin is an elf smaller than a mushroom who lives under an oak tree and guards a secret: a white quartz stone that glows in the dark. He keeps it hidden from everyone, until a lost mole tunnels into his wall, crying in the dark.
Ages: 4–8 · Reading time: about 2 minutes
Moral: A real treasure is something you use to light someone else’s way.
Pippin was a very tiny elf, smaller than a mushroom. He wore a hat made from a purple foxglove flower and walnut-shell boots that went *tap-tap-tap* when he walked over the stones.
Pippin lived under the Twisted Root of the Great Oak. He was the guardian of a secret. In the back of his burrow, a white quartz stone glowed. It was cool, smooth, and gave off a soft, milky light in the dark. Pippin spent his days polishing his stone with a velvet leaf.
“My treasure. Only mine,” he would whisper, covering the stone with moss whenever he heard a noise outside.
A Bump in the Dark
One day, a blind mole dug a tunnel in the wrong direction and hit the wall of Pippin’s house. *Boom!* The earth shook.
“Help… I’m lost and everything is so dark,” the mole whimpered, her nose covered in dirt. Pippin looked at his glowing stone. If he showed it, the mole would see his treasure. But the mole was shivering with fear in the total darkness.
Pippin’s heart, which was as hard as a dry seed, began to soften. He let out a long sigh. He picked up the quartz stone with both hands, walked over to the mole, and held it high.
The Moon in the Tunnel
The white light filled the tunnel. The mole blinked her sensitive eyes. “Oh… it looks like a little piece of the moon,” she said, smiling. “Thank you, friend. Now I can see the way back to my family.“
The mole scuttled away, guided by the glow. Pippin stood there, still holding the stone. He realized that the quartz glowed much brighter when reflected in the mole’s smile than when it was hidden in the dark. He discovered that a real treasure isn’t what we keep—it’s what we use to light someone else’s way.
