Baby Brite

Very early one morning in Rainbow Land, the sleepy little sprites went off to work. Buddy Blue was supervising the day's work because of the short supply of blue Star Sprinkles. It was so early that not even the sun was fully awake, so it was still cool and dark in the mines when the sprites went down to dig for Star Sprinkles. Deeper and deeper they went, all yawning and stumbling into each other -- when all at once a strange thing happened. As they turned a corner and started down a narrow tunnel, the sprites were dazzled by a shower of tiny stars!

"Stars? Impossible!" Champ sprite gasped. But there they were, right in front of his eyes. They hovered and swirled in the air like tiny fireflies, all in different colors of the rainbow. The stars danced right above a pile of purple rocks. They were so bright that the frightened little sprites, all hollering and babbling at once, scrambled back and covered their eyes.

"It's a spell!" cried Glee sprite. "It's magic!" yelped Lucky sprite. "Run before we're bewitched!" squealed Spark. Then they all started shouting "Help!" and bolted to make their escape.

But Buddy Blue held up his hands. "Shhh!" he hissed. "Listen! Don't you hear it?"

A sudden silence fell over the group as the sprites stood wide-eyed, staring at the whirlwind of stars and holding tightly onto one another. For they did hear something.

A very small something. A very, very small something. Like a gurgle. A Gurgling sort of coo.

Buddy looked solemnly at the sprites. "Who wants to investigate?" he asked. Every sprite pointed at him.

"Oh, all right," Buddy frowned, stepping forward. "Someone has to be brave around here. But...maybe someone ought to go get Rainbow Brite...just in case."

All the sprites made a dash for the tunnel and got stuck in the passageway.

"Just one of you!" yelled Buddy. "The rest of you stay here and back me up!"

The sprites moved sheepishly back toward Buddy as Champ went running for help.

"Now, then!" Buddy said as he crept forward. He touched the stars in the air, and they danced between his fingers. Buddy took a deep breath and peeked behind the purple rocks.

"A baby!" he gasped. "Why, look! It's a baby!"

and indeed it was. A tiny, precious baby snuggling in a shimmering blanket of stars. The little girl smiled at all the sprites as they gathered around excitedly. Just as they were deciding whether or not they should pick her up, Rainbow Brite arrived with Starlite, Twink and Champ, who had gone for help.

"Why, it's a baby!" Rainbow exclaimed, and picked it up at once to cuddle it. "Where did you find her?"

"Right here," said Buddy. "We were just mining our business, when all of a sudden we saw all these stars and everything got so bright..."

"Brite!" Rainbow Brite laughed. "That's it! It's Baby Brite!"

Starlite, Buddy and the sprites all nodded their heads in approval, and Rainbow Brite held the baby very close.

"But where did she come from?" Buddy asked with a puzzled look.

"We'll send out the word everywhere that we've found a baby in Rainbow Land," said Rainbow Brite. "But I have a feeling that she was brought here for a reason. Look, she even has a tiny star on her cheek like I do! Whoever brought us Baby Brite knows that we'll love her and give her a happy, beautiful world to discover."

"What a bright idea!" Buddy exclaimed, and everyone laughed as they crowded around to take turns holding their new little bundle of joy.