Unicorn bedtime story

The winter night conjures up silver ice crystals on the small window pane in Sleepy's room. Sleepy should actually be asleep by now. But the little unicorn is staring spellbound at the window, behind which a black darkness lies over the snow that has been gently covering the Akama Valley since this morning.

Little unicorns don't have to spend the winter outside in the pasture, they can make themselves comfortable in their rooms. And so Sleepy pulls his light blue star blanket as high as he can.

Suddenly the furrowed wood of the bedroom door squeaks. It's Grandmother Unicornia. When she slowly trots in on all fours and sees Sleepy lying in bed with wide, alert eyes, she is startled. Normally, she only checks once more at this point, shortly after midnight, to make sure that the little unicorn is asleep. By then, Sleepy's parents are already galloping through the realm of colorful unicorn dreams, but Unicornia doesn't go to bed until late at night. And every time she takes a quick look into the grandchildren's room.

"Sleepy, are you okay? You're not asleep yet. What's wrong, are you worried?"

“Santa Claus isn’t coming this year, Grandma.”

"What? How did you come up with that? Santa Claus visits us every year. With his sleigh, his reindeer, the presents..."

"It's not real. It doesn't exist. Fabella said so."

Of course, thinks Unicornia. Sleepy's best friend is always making up fairy tales. She's a real daydreamer. There's no Santa Claus? What nonsense. Unicornia sees tears glistening under Sleepy's beautiful long eyelashes. She trots slowly around the bed and sits down right next to the little unicorn.

"So, that's what Fabella told you. The same Fabella who tried to convince you that there is no Easter Bunny. And no guardian angels. And no man in the moon..."

"Maybe she's right this time, Grandma! Maybe there really isn't a Santa Claus and no presents. And I liked him so much this year than before! It's so late, it's actually already Christmas, and he still hasn't come. He's not coming, he really isn't coming this time! Fabella is right."

Tears roll down Sleepy's cheeks and their color changes from rose gold to bronze. This always happens when the little unicorn is sad. When he's playing, however, Sleepy shines a beautiful silver color, and sometimes, when he's particularly happy, his horn, tail and bushy tail even shine gold.

Unicornia, the wise old grandmother who has seen so many little unicorns grow up and experienced miracles, gently wipes the tears from Sleepy's eyes.

"Shall I tell you something, Sleepy? There is a Santa Claus. And do you know why?"

Sleepy sniffles and shakes his head.

“Because we exist,” whispers the grandmother.

The little unicorn sits up in his bed. “I don’t understand, Grandma.”

"You know," Unicornia begins, "there was a time when people no longer believed in creatures like us. They believed in many other animals because they could see them. Horses, dogs, cats. But we unicorns live secluded lives deep in the forests. Just like the old dragons in the mighty pine mountains near Abraxia. And because people often only really want to believe in what they can see and touch every day, they convinced themselves that unicorns and dragons didn't exist. That was terrible, because it caused us to gradually disappear, one after the other. Until only one unicorn and one dragon were left.

But at exactly that time, two people were traveling in the forests of the Akama Valley and in the Pine Mountains. A little girl who had run away from home because she was finally going to meet a real unicorn. She simply didn't want to believe that we didn't exist. And an old mountain climber who had gotten lost. And so it happened that the girl met the last unicorn - and the old hiker met the last dragon. The unicorn brought the child, who was already at the end of his strength and half frozen, back to his family on his back. And the dragon flew the hiker, who would never have found the right way on his own, back to the city. Both told their families about their encounters. They told others. And so they saved the unicorns and the dragons too. Now there are many of us again and we live peacefully in our valley and in the mountains... and can you imagine, Sleepy, why I'm telling you this story?"

Sleepy smiles furtively and nods. "Yes, Grandma! If I really, really believe in Santa Claus, then he does exist. It's up to me whether he exists and whether he can come to us!

Unicornia strokes Sleepy's tail, which, like the rest of her fur, is now shining rose gold. "Exactly, my darling. You just have to believe in Santa Claus. And not always in what's going on in Fabella's little head all day long. Now try to sleep. Good night, Sleepy."

While the grandmother quietly leaves the room, Sleepy closes his eyes. The little unicorn vividly imagines Santa Claus flying through the air on his reindeer sleigh and finally reaching the idyllic Akama Valley.

When Sleepy has almost fallen asleep, a voice sounds from the distance. The little unicorn wakes up and sneaks through the darkness of the room to the window. It looks carefully outside through the ice crystals. And in the darkness it sees a tall man with a long white beard. He climbs onto his sleigh, pulls on the reins of his reindeer and calls: "Ho ho ho!" But before he floats away from the Akama Valley, after he has just brought Sleepy's family the most beautiful presents and now quickly makes his way to the dragon children of Abraxia, he looks briefly over at Sleepy's window. He smiles. And Sleepy smiles back.

END