The Star-Money

Once upon a time, there lived a little orphan girl who had lost both her father and mother when she was very young. She was so poor that she had no house to live in, no bed to sleep on, and nothing to her name except the clothes on her back and a small piece of bread that a kind person had given her out of pity.

Despite her poverty, the little girl had a heart full of love and compassion. She trusted in God’s goodness and believed that somehow, everything would turn out well for those who were kind to others.

One cold evening, as she wandered through the countryside looking for shelter, she came upon an old man sitting by the roadside. His clothes were ragged, and he shivered in the bitter wind.

“Please, little child,” the old man called out weakly, “I am so hungry. Do you have anything to eat?”

The little girl looked at her piece of bread – the only food she possessed and her only hope for supper. Without hesitation, she broke it in half and offered the larger piece to the old man.

“Here, grandfather,” she said gently. “Take this bread. You need it more than I do.”

The old man’s eyes filled with tears of gratitude. “Bless you, child. Your kindness will not be forgotten.”

As the girl continued on her way, she soon encountered a small child crying by the side of the road. The child wore only a thin shirt and was shaking from the cold.

“Please help me,” the child pleaded. “I am so cold, and I have nothing warm to wear.”

The little girl immediately took off her warm cap and placed it on the shivering child’s head. “Here,” she said with a smile, “this will keep you warm.”

A little further down the road, she met another child who had no shirt at all. Without a moment’s thought, the girl removed her own shirt and gave it to the child, leaving herself with only her undergarment.

As darkness fell, she came upon yet another child, this one crying because she had no undergarment to wear. Though this was the last piece of clothing the girl possessed, she did not hesitate. She took off her undergarment and gave it to the child, leaving herself with nothing but her skirt.

Finally, deep in a dark forest where no one could see her, she encountered one more child who begged for something to wear. The kind girl looked around to make sure no one was watching, then removed her skirt – her very last possession – and handed it to the grateful child.

Now the little girl stood completely naked in the dark forest, with nothing left to give and nothing to protect her from the cold night air. But she felt no despair, for her heart was filled with the joy that comes from helping others.

“Well,” she said to herself, looking up at the star-filled sky, “I have given away everything I owned to help those in need. I have no regrets, for each gift brought comfort to someone who needed it more than I did.”

As she spoke these words, something magical began to happen. The stars in the sky started to twinkle more brightly, and suddenly, they began to fall from the heavens like gentle rain. But these were not ordinary stars – as they touched the ground around her, they transformed into golden coins that glittered and shone in the moonlight.

At the same moment, the little girl found herself wearing a beautiful new dress made of the finest linen, softer and warmer than anything she had ever owned. It had appeared on her as if by magic, fitting her perfectly and shining with a gentle, silvery light.

“Oh my!” she gasped in wonder, gathering up the golden star-coins that continued to fall around her. “The stars themselves are rewarding my small acts of kindness!”

She collected the magical coins in her new dress, and soon she had more wealth than she could have ever imagined. The star-money was pure gold, each coin bearing the image of a twinkling star that seemed to shine with its own inner light.

With her newfound fortune, the little girl was able to buy a small cottage where she could live safely and warmly. But she did not forget the lessons of her difficult past. She used her star-money wisely, always keeping enough to help others who were poor and hungry, just as she had once been.

Word of the magical star-money spread throughout the land, and people came from far and wide to hear the story of the generous little girl. But they learned that the magic was not in the gold itself – it was in the girl’s pure heart and her willingness to give everything she had to help others.

The girl grew up to become a wise and compassionate woman, known throughout the kingdom for her generosity and kindness. She established homes for orphaned children and made sure that no one in her village ever went hungry or cold.

Whenever she told her story to the children in her care, she would show them one of the magical star-coins, which still glowed with a gentle light even after many years.

“Remember,” she would say, “true riches come not from what we keep for ourselves, but from what we give to others. The stars saw my heart and rewarded my generosity, but the real magic happened when I chose to share what little I had with those who needed it more.”

And so the tale reminds us that acts of selfless kindness, no matter how small, are always noticed and rewarded by the universe. Those who give freely from their hearts, even when they have little to give, will find that their generosity returns to them in ways more wonderful than they could ever imagine.