About this story
Willow is a fluffy dandelion seed. When the Autumn Wind comes, all her sisters let go and fly away laughing, but Willow holds on, too scared of falling, until she is the last one left on a bare, cold flower.
Ages: 3–7 · Reading time: about 2 minutes
Moral: Sometimes you have to let go to find where you belong.
The whole world was just the safe, round head of the Mother Flower.
Willow the Little Seed clung there, together with hundreds of her sisters. She was fluffy and light as a white feather, but she gripped her stem with all the strength she had. The Autumn Wind arrived, whistling through the stalks. *Whoosh.*
“Time to fly!” sang the Wind. One by one, Willow’s sisters let go. They rose into the air, spinning like white dancers, laughing as they drifted away to unknown places.
“No!” Willow cried. “It’s too high! I’ll fall!” She huddled closer. The Wind pulled, but she resisted. She was left all alone on the flower’s head, which was now bare and dry.
The Cold Silence
Days passed. The sun grew weaker, and Willow felt cold. Without her sisters, the flower head was a lonely and sad place. She looked down and saw only dark, hard earth. “If I stay, I’ll just wither away here,” she thought.
The Wind returned, gentler this time. “I won’t drop you,” he whispered. “I will carry you. Trust me.” Willow took a deep breath. She slowly loosened her grip.
The Invisible Bed
The moment she let go, fear chilled her belly. But she didn’t fall. The air caught her from below, soft as an invisible mattress. She rose higher and higher. From up there, the world was giant! She saw the red roof of a house, a dog running through a yard, and an infinite green field waiting just for her.
The journey was magical. She landed softly on a patch of damp, fluffy soil, ready to sleep through the winter and, in the spring, become a bright yellow flower herself.
