The Sleepy Elephant Counts Stars

Told in English, Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, Spanish, French, Arabic, Mandarin Chinese.

There was a big grey elephant, and he could not fall asleep.

He lay down in the soft grass. He wiggled his ears. He wiggled his trunk. But his eyes stayed open.

So the elephant looked up at the sky. And do you know what he saw? Stars. Lots and lots of little stars.

So he began to count them. Very, very slowly.

One little star. Twinkle.

Two little stars. Twinkle, twinkle.

Three little stars. The elephant took a big, slow breath in... and let it out.

Four little stars. His ears stopped wiggling.

Five little stars. His trunk went floppy and soft.

Six little stars. His legs felt heavy, like warm sand.

Seven little stars. His eyes went half shut.

Eight little stars. Shhh.

Nine little stars...

Ten little...

And the big grey elephant was fast asleep, right there in the soft grass, with all the little stars twinkling over him.

Can you take a big slow breath, like the elephant? In... and out.

Goodnight, little one.