There were once - a long, long, very long time ago; so long ago that not even day and night existed, and upon the Earth there lived only strange and magic creatures – two little elves who dreamed of jumping so high that they could manage to capture the clouds.

One day, the Great Sky Fairy saw them jumping again and again, in what seemed to be some useless but amusing game. They were trying to capture a few light clouds that were passing by at great speed. Their game so amused the Sky Fairy that she decided to grant each of the elves a wish.

-“What would you most like in life? Only one thing though, I can’t give you more,”

she asked of the elf who seemed the most restless.

The elf, excited at talking to one of the Great Fairies, and anxious to receive his wish, answered instantly.

-“To jump! I want to be able to jump right over the mountains! Above the clouds and the wind, and beyond the sun!”

-“Are you sure?” said the fairy “You don’t want anything else?”

The little elf, impatient, spoke of the years he had spent dreaming of having such an ability, and he assured the fairy that nothing could make him happier. The fairy, convinced, blew onto the elf and the elf instantly jumped so high that within moments he had soared through the clouds. Then he continued on towards the sun and, finally, they lost sight of him as he made his way to the stars.

Then the fairy turned to the other elf.

-“And you? What is it that you most want?”

The second elf, who was a bit quieter than the first elf, went into deep thought. He scratched his chin, pulled at his ears, looked up at the sky, looked at the ground, looked again at the sky, rubbed his eyes, put a hand on his ear, looked again at the ground, put on a sad face, and finally answered:

-“I want to be able to catch anything, above all so I can break my friend’s fall. Otherwise he’ll die when he comes plummeting back to Earth.”

At that moment they began hearing a noise, like a far off little cry, and it was coming closer and closer, becoming louder and louder. Then they could clearly make out the horrified face of the first elf, who was fully expecting to soon experience the biggest crash-landing in history. But then the fairy blew on the second elf, and this elf managed to catch his friend and save his life.

With his heart almost beating out of his chest, and his eyes filled with tears, the first elf regretted having been so impulsive, and he warmly embraced his good friend who – having thought a while before choosing his wish – had spent it on the first elf. Grateful for his generosity, the first jumping elf offered to swap the wishes, leaving himself with the useless one of catching elves, and giving his friend the ability to jump above the clouds. However, the second elf, who knew how much his friend had wanted his wish, decided they could share it by taking turns.

And so, one would jump while the other caught, and then they would swap; and both would be equally happy.

The fairy, moved by the elves’ friendship and companionship, presented each one with the most beautiful objects decorating the sky: the sun and the moon. From then on, the elf that was given the sun has jumped happily up every morning, his gift giving light to the World. And after a whole day he falls back to Earth, caught by his friend. And then the friend himself leaps up, and the night sky is filled with moonlight.