Once upon a time,
A very large and sometimes very grumpy grub opened a sleepy eye to reassure himself that he was in bed.
Yes,
Here he was,
His pillow soft and his body snuggled down inside something really comfortable,
Soft and fluffy.
As he lay in his nice space,
He was very happy,
Surrounded by comforting twinkles of light that he liked to be with.
Hmm,
He thought,
I don't really want to get up yet.
And so he closed his eyes and snuggled down some more.
Maybe you want to snuggle down and close your eyes too,
While we share this story.
You see,
Grumpy grub,
Who wasn't really grumpy,
But was really very nice,
He'd had a very busy time.
Because for the first time a few days ago,
He crawled out of his cocoon,
Yes,
Cocoon,
I did say he was a grub,
And ate breakfast,
Lunch and dinner all at once.
And then he was still hungry,
So he just went on,
Eating,
Eating and eating,
Not even stopping to speak to anyone.
Maybe this is why they call me grumpy grub,
He thought to himself.
I'm always so hungry and my mouth is always full of food,
So I can't speak to people very much.
And what a shame that was,
Because grumpy grub just loved people,
And especially the little ones called children.
So,
That morning he roamed the garden far and wide,
Eating,
Eating,
Eating,
Eating everything he could until he couldn't eat any more,
Not even a pea.
He was completely stuffed with food.
And that was when he started to feel very sleepy.
Just like you're getting a bit sleepy now.
So,
He found this soft warm place,
And then he gave a big yawn.
And then he closed his eyes and snuggled under the covers to sleep,
But only to wake up starving again.
So off he went to sleep for another day.
Well,
After a few days of eating and sleeping and eating and sleeping,
His body felt sort of tight,
A bit like it needed stretching.
So he went back to his soft warm place and he lay down to stretch.
Keeping your eyes closed,
Why don't you have a little stretch with him?
First,
He scrunched up his toes and then counted to three.
One,
Two,
Three.
And then he stretched his toes out as far as he could.
Then he scrunched up his legs and then counted to three.
One,
Two,
Three.
And then he let his legs down and flop open.
Hmm,
He began to feel just a little bit better.
Then he breathed in and pulled in his tummy until he could pull it in no more and counted to three.
One,
Two,
Three.
Then he let out his breath and he stretched his tummy out and he stretched his body long.
Ah yes,
As he flopped back down onto the pillow,
He snuggled down a bit further.
He was beginning to feel much better.
Next,
He squeezed his fingers into his hands.
He squeezed his fingers tight and his hands tighter and counted to three.
One,
Two,
Three.
And he opened them up and let them flop too.
Oh,
He was feeling very nice now.
All floppy,
All over.
Can you feel all floppy all over?
Hmm,
And he felt even better.
Not at all grumpy,
But maybe,
Yep,
A bit sleepy.
And as he fell towards sleep,
His body got heavier and heavier.
Can you feel your body sinking into the soft bed,
All heavy?
Yep,
Just like that.
Floppy,
Soft and heavy.
And as he fell asleep,
He dreamed a lovely dream.
It felt like he was soaring right up into the sky and looking down on beautiful meadows and glimmering streams and the sky was a lovely,
Velvety blue.
There were lots of trees that were covered in soft green leaves and had very comfortable,
Long-looking branches.
The birds must have thought so too,
Because he could see lots landing on those branches,
Chirping and singing their songs and then cuddling up together under the soft leaves.
And soon,
There was no more chirping at all,
As they closed their eyes and went to sleep.
It must be their bedtime too.
And then a most curious thing happened.
As Grub watched the birds settling to sleep,
He found himself flying off the snuggle into his bed too.
Flying?
Flying?
Yes,
Flying,
With two beautiful,
Glimmering,
Shimmering wings.
Wait,
What?
Wings?
He was a Grub,
Wasn't he?
But wasn't it true that little Grubs and caterpillars turn into moths and beautiful butterflies?
Yes,
It was true.
Ah,
So then it must be true that he was a butterfly.
Or was he?
Perhaps not.
He was very large,
He was very heavy,
And his wings were,
Well,
Huge.
Another thing,
The oddest thing,
Was that when he breathed,
He breathed,
Oh,
Yes,
Fire,
Fire came out of his mouth.
Oh,
Could he be?
No,
Surely not.
But could he be a dragon?
A huge,
Flying,
Wonderful,
Fire-breathing,
Winged,
Delightful dragon?
And if he was a dragon,
Well,
That was very splendid because everyone knows that dragons are helpful and friendly and are the best champions in the world at protecting people and looking after people,
Especially little ones.
Dragons just love sparkly things,
Don't they?
And he was surrounded by twinkly,
Sparkly things,
Wasn't he?
He was surrounded by stars.
And he loved it.
And what was this soft,
Fluffy bedding then?
A cloud?
A cloud?
No.
Yes.
He was sleeping up in the sky on a cloud.
So the twinkly,
Sparkly things must be stars.
So this was where he woke up this morning.
It wasn't a dream then.
He really was a delightful dragon and not a grumpy grub.
Well,
He thought happily,
This is just the right space for looking over and looking after little people.
So delightful dragon,
Cosy in this soft,
Fluffy crowd,
Relaxed his wings,
Took a deep breath and puffed it out slowly.
Ahhhhhhhhhhh.
Well,
It really was time to sleep now.
No wonder he was so tired.
Oh good.
Right now it's time to sleep.
Wonderful,
He thought,
Snuggling down even further.
Now I can go to sleep.
And so he did.
Good night.
