The Cloud Sheep Who Counted Themselves

High above the world, where the sky is like a soft blanket, the cloud sheep live. They are round and white and very quiet. Every evening they drift over the rooftops and the forests. They help children fall asleep. The children look out their windows. They count the cloud sheep, one, two, three. Then their eyes grow heavy. Then their pillows feel soft. Then the children fall asleep.

Tonight the sky is very still. The moon shines big and round. The cloud sheep look down at the houses. No window glows. No child is sitting up in bed. 'They are all asleep already,' whispers a little cloud sheep. 'No one is counting us tonight.' The other cloud sheep look at one another. They grow very quiet. What should they do now? The wind whispers softly through their wool.

'What do we do now?' asks a cloud sheep with rosy cheeks. 'We are here to be counted.' The cloud sheep float slowly in a long, curving row. The wind whispers softly between them. No one knows what to do. They all look the same way. So they nudge one another gently forward, toward the oldest sheep in the flock. 'He will know,' they whisper. 'He always knows.'

The oldest is a big white sheep named Snöfall. His wool is soft as the first snow. His eyes are kind and a little tired. He has counted children for a thousand and a thousand nights. He knows every sleep-number by heart. Snöfall smiles a little. 'No children are counting tonight,' he says calmly. 'Then we shall do it ourselves. Then we shall count ourselves, one cloud sheep at a time.'

Snöfall takes a deep breath. He looks at the first little sheep. 'One cloud sheep,' he says softly and calmly. The little sheep yawns a big yawn. So big that its whole body shakes a little. It closes its eyes and begins to sink, slowly, slowly. It drifts down through the air like a feather. The moon smiles at it. Down on the earth a green hill waits.

Snöfall looks at the next sheep. 'Two cloud sheep,' he says in the same soft voice. That sheep yawns too, big and long. It closes its eyes and begins to glide down. It is like a little feather on the wind. Slowly, slowly it sinks toward the ground. It lands right beside the first one. They lie close together. Everything is so still. Only the moon shines.