Long ago all the stars in the sky looked the same, tiny and shined in bright white. Moreover, they were friendly to one other and liked to warm each other up by staying close together. However, one of the stars, Pansy was full of self-importance. She liked for the other stars to warm her up instead. She insisted that the other stars get around her and give her some warmth as she relaxed and held in her glow. Instead of sharing her own glow like the other stars, Pansy insisted that keeping her glow in her body made her prettier for she appeared more golden-yellow while the other stars were white. She would stay for days without glowing. Then when her whole body had absorbed enough warmth and reflected a nice golden color, she would brag to the others saying, “I am the most beautiful star in the whole sky.”
Regardless of her bragging, the other stars still warmed her up even when she did not do the same for them. They believed that they were all a family.
After every few days of goldening up, as Pansy would say, she would brag repeatedly to the others. Sometimes her golden glow would hurt the eyes of the other stars. Over time, they also noticed that her golden glow would also turn them golden for a short time.
During a particular season, Pansy had taken four whole days to golden up. Her skin glowed so brightly that the stars could barely see each other. They kept bumping on each other. One of the frustrated stars, Kenzi, confronted her.
“Pansy we understand you want to be better than the rest of us and we accept that. But please why make yourselves different and hurt us in the process?” Kenzi asked.
“Just say that you are envious of my glow and you wish you were me,” Pansy replied.
“No. I do not want to be you even though I know that I can. I just want us all to be comfortable,” Kenzi replied.
“Stop it. Okay. I dare you to a goldening competition. If you get more golden than me, you win and I will never golden up again,” Pansy said.
“Challenge accepted,” Kenzi replied.
For the next days, Pansy did her goldening routine. She secluded herself from the other stars as she thought their white glow would undermine her golden one. Unknown to her in her isolation, Kenzi had teamed up with the other stars into two groups. The first group glowed all through in their white color while the other group goldened themselves. The two groups then surrounded Kenzi and glowed in their white and yellow colors around her that she also goldened up.
On the day that the stars were to see each other’s golden appearance, Pansy appeared first in the dullest golden color, looking tired and weak. She barely spoke as she waited for Kenzi to appear. When Kenzi approached, the path was lit up in a golden bright glow as other stars lined up to cheer her own. Kenzi was so bright that the whole sky turned a golden-yellow and bright. The other stars clapped and rejoiced as they knew that Kenzi had won. Although her glow hurt their eyes, they looked at Kenzi proudly and happily congratulated her.
Pansy, watched on as the other stars patted Kenzi for her nice golden glow. “It can’t be!” She thought. So, in anger, Pansy let out all the glow she had been holding onto when goldening up.
BAM!
All the other stars including Kenzi were blown far away due to the blast. Behind them, Pansy panted as tears flowed in a stream down her cheeks. She looked at herself. Her whole body was the dullest white color ever seen with pits of dark spots. Furthermore, her body had swollen into a big round shape from the sudden explosion. She tried to hold in the glow but instead, she glowed whiter and brighter. She had lost both her radiance and shape. Pansy looked over the other stars that had fallen off from her explosion. They were picking each other up and making sure they were all fine. She also noticed that Kenzi still glowed brighter than all the other stars, she included.
Lacking in empathy, Pansy did not dare check up on the other stars to see if they were alright. Instead, she ran away from them vowing to only return when she glows brighter than Kenzi. To this day, Pansy still tries to golden herself up but instead, she is still white and round while Kenzi keeps her golden glow. The other stars try to get closer to Pansy to comfort her as she is still their family but she always glides away from them.
If you look up into the sky at night, you will see the one brightest golden star surrounded by other white glowing stars. Far off in the starry sky horizon, you will see a huge round white glowing star all on its own glowing less and less bright. This is Pansy who has never given up and still tries to bring back her glow.