High in the sky, among thousands of bright stars, there lived a little star who was too shy to shine as boldly as her sisters. Every night she hid behind a thin cloud, whispering to herself, “My light is too faint, no one will ever see me.”

One evening, she heard a little girl named Salma talking to her mother by the window. “Mama,” Salma said, “I love the little star that glows so softly — her light never hurts my eyes.” The star smiled from behind her cloud, hardly believing what she had heard.

Shyly, the star stepped out from behind the cloud and let her gentle light fall on Salma's window. Her glow was not as strong as the other stars', but it was warm and soft, exactly the way Salma liked it.

From that night on, the little star never hid again. She understood that her quiet light was her own special gift, and Salma fell asleep happily beneath her tender glow every evening.