Stories
The Lantern in the Mango Tree
A bedtime story about a tiny lantern that helps a neighborhood find its way home after sunset.
Every evening, when the sky turned peach and gold, Meera noticed a soft light glowing in the mango tree outside her window.
At first she thought it was a firefly. Then she thought it might be a star that had fallen into the branches. But when she stepped outside in her slippers and tilted her head, she saw something much stranger: a lantern no bigger than an orange, hanging from a silver thread and glowing like warm honey.
The lantern bobbed gently in the breeze as if it were trying to say hello.
“Do you belong to someone?” Meera whispered.
The lantern flickered once for yes, then floated down until it hovered in front of her nose.
That was the beginning of their evening walks.
Whenever a neighbor dropped a scarf, missed a turn, or forgot where they had set down a basket, the little lantern drifted ahead and lit the way. It glowed under porches, behind flowerpots, and along crooked garden paths until every missing thing was found and every tired person was back home.
By the end of the week, everyone in the lane was looking up at twilight, hoping to catch the first sparkle in the mango tree.
Meera never learned exactly where the lantern had come from. She only knew that some lights are brightest when they are shared.