Catherine and the Dancing Moon

This is a story I wrote for my daughter, images are all licensed under CC0 from various sources

Early One evening, Catherine and her dad were wandering through the forest.

As they walked along the winding path, Catherine looked up through the branches waving in the breeze. “Look daddy, a dancing moon!”
Daddy looked up and saw the moon dancing between the leaves.

Catherine said: “Daddy, the moon is all alone and it’s no fun to dance by yourself, let’s dance with him” And Catherine stepped lightly along the trail.
Daddy tried to keep up, but he couldn’t dance very well so Catherine and the moon soon left him far behind.

Catherine and the moon boogied along the trail.
They trotted like foxes, they got tangled in the tango, and the rumbled in the rumba!

They waltzed along the path and tripped the light fantastic all the way to the beach.
When they got to the edge of the sand, Catherine stopped and looked across the water in amazement.

There, shimmering and dancing, was another moon and another Catherine! All four of them began to dance as the wind whistled, playing music through the trees.
Catherine laughed and whirled and danced until she was so tired that she fell down on the beach. And, then, she looked for her daddy.

She looked all around and realized that he was nowhere to be found. “Daddy? Daddy? Daddy, where are you? I want to dance with you.”
Catherine ran up and down the beach looking for her daddy, but she couldn’t find him.

“Mr. Moon, I can’t find my daddy. Can you help me?” But the two moons sat silently and cast their light across the sea and sky.

As Catherine watched, a cloud slipped across the sky to cover the moons. Everything got dark, and Catherine was all alone. No moon and no daddy.
Catherine sat down on the sand, looked back at the forest, and began to cry.

Just as she began to feel like she would never see her daddy or the moon again, she heard a voice call out from the woods. “Catherine! Catherine, where are you?” Catherine jumped up and began to wave her hands over her head. “Over here daddy, I’m over here!”
Just then the cloud passed over the moon and the moonlight shone on the trail through the forest. There, at the end of the trail, was daddy, huffing and puffing, with his face twisted up in worry.

“Daddy!”

“Catherine!”

Catherine and Daddy raced towards each other and Daddy swept her up into his arms.
“Daddy, I danced with the moon, and then there were two moons and another Catherine and we all danced together! Then, I wanted to dance with you and you weren’t there so I got sad and kind of scared, but then you found me!”

Daddy smiled and held her close. “No matter how long you dance or how far away you go, I will always look for you until I find you.”
Catherine snuggled her head against her daddy’s shoulder. “I love you daddy.”
“I love you too sweetheart.”

“Dance with me, daddy?”
And, with the music of the wind, and the moon shining high above, they danced down the path – together.