Lumi The Little Lantern

In a quiet village where the nights were long and the stars shone bright, there was a little lantern named Lumi. She sat on the windowsill of a kind old woman who lit her every evening, filling the room with a warm, golden glow. Lumi loved being a lantern. She loved shining, loved the way her light made shadows dance, loved how the woman smiled as she read her books by Lumi’s gentle flame.

“This is what I was made for,” Lumi thought, feeling safe and happy.

But one night, the old woman did not light Lumi. The room stayed dark, and outside, the wind howled. Lumi waited and waited, but the woman never came. Days passed, then weeks, and more weeks. Lumi understood. Something had changed.

One evening, many a time later, a stranger entered the house. A boy, no older than ten, with dirt on his hands and sadness in his eyes. He shivered from the cold, looking around hesitantly. Lumi wished she could call out to him, but she was only a lantern.

Then, warmth. A spark. The boy had lit her wick, and Lumi’s flame flickered to life once more. Her golden glow filled the small house, and the boy’s face softened.

“You’re still here,” he murmured, more to himself than to Lumi. He pulled a dusty blanket over his shoulders and sat beside her. For the first time in what felt like forever, Lumi was needed again.

More nights passed, and the boy kept coming back. Each time, he lit Lumi and sat beside her, sometimes reading from an old book, sometimes just sitting in silence. And Lumi shone, not for the old woman, but for him.

One day, the boy picked her up. “You don’t belong in an empty house,” he said. And for the first time, Lumi left her windowsill. She traveled with him, from dark alleyways to kind strangers’ doorsteps, always lighting the way.

She missed the old woman… the life she once had. But as the boy carried her through the night, her flame guiding his every step, she realized that light was never meant to stay in one place. It was meant to be carried and shared. To bring warmth wherever it was needed.

And so, Lumi burned on, never knowing where she’d end up next, but always glowing, always shining.

Because that’s what lanterns do.