Let’s begin.
Gigi was a young giraffe who lived in a sunny land called the Savannah. She had a long neck, soft brown spots, and a family who loved her very much. There was her mother, Mara, her father, Tavi, and her little brother, Pip.
Gigi loved playing with Pip. But most of all, she loved exploring. She always wondered what she might find around the next bend.
One morning, Gigi finished her breakfast of fresh green leaves and looked out across the grass.
“I'm going for a walk,” she told her mother. “Maybe I'll find something new.”
“Stay on our side of the river,” Mama reminded her. “And be back for lunch.”
“I will,” said Gigi.
Pip poked his head around a tree. “If you find something good, save some for me!”
“What if I find a very big puddle?”
“Save the muddy bit!”
Gigi laughed and set off down the path.
She watched butterflies flutter over the flowers. She stepped around a beetle rolling a ball of dirt. Then she stretched her neck up high to see where the path went next.
Ahead, she could hear running water.
It was the river. Tall trees crowded the other bank. Their branches grew so close together that Gigi couldn't see what was behind them.
Some animals said that forest was a frightening place. Gigi had never been inside it. She stayed on her own side, just as Mama had asked.
Then something colorful moved between the trees.
Pink. Blue. Yellow. Green.
“A rainbow?” Gigi whispered.
She walked a little farther along the bank. The colors moved too.
At a bend in the river, a small brook flowed around a grassy island. Beyond it, the trees opened just enough for Gigi to see someone standing in the flowers.
It was a young unicorn.
She had grayish-purple fur that sparkled in the sunlight. A silver-gray horn rose from her forehead. And the rainbow Gigi had followed was her long, wavy mane.
The unicorn looked up. Gigi stood very still.
“Hello,” Gigi said. “Is that your hair, or did you walk through a rainbow?”
The unicorn glanced over her shoulder. “It's my hair. There might be a leaf in it, though.”
She shook her mane. A little green leaf floated down.
Gigi giggled. “I'm Gigi.”
“I'm Starlight.”
Starlight lived beyond the trees in a place called the Enchanted Glade. She had come out to play that morning, but she had never met a giraffe before.
“You're very tall,” she said. “Can you see my house?”
Gigi stretched up. “I can see lots of leaves. And a bird having breakfast.”
“That's not my house.”
They both laughed.
“I'd like to come over,” Gigi said. “But I promised Mama I would stay on this side.”
“I can come to you,” said Starlight. “My family said I could play on the grass by Reed Bend. That's what we call this place.”
Starlight looked at the water. Then she noticed a fallen branch beside her.
“I could make a bridge!”
“How?” asked Gigi.
“With my horn. I'm learning magic.”
Starlight pushed the branch toward the brook. It reached only halfway across.
“Can you make it longer?” Gigi asked.
“I think so.” Starlight paused. “I haven't tried it before.”
Her horn began to glow. She bent down and touched the branch with its tip.
A pink flower opened on the wood.
Then another.
Then flowers popped out all along the branch.
Starlight lifted her head. The glow faded. The branch was still too short.
Gigi waited for a moment.
“Is the bridge under the flowers?” she asked.
Starlight gave the branch a little push. It bent.
“No,” she said. “It's just flowers.”
Her ears drooped. She had wanted to show her new friend something wonderful. Now she didn't know what to say.
“I thought I could do it,” Starlight said at last. “But I don't know how to make a bridge.”
Gigi bent her neck to look at the flowers.
“They're very pretty.”
“You can't walk on pretty.”
“No,” Gigi agreed. “But you could smell it.”
She took a great big sniff. A loose petal landed on her nose.
Starlight laughed. Gigi blew the petal into the air.
“Maybe we can find another way,” Gigi said.
First, Starlight pulled the branch away from the water. She put it beside the path so nobody would trip over it.
Gigi looked up and down the brook. From her height, she could see over a thick clump of reeds.
“There are stepping stones over here!”
Starlight followed the bank to the reeds.
“Oh! I couldn't see those.”
The first stone was wide and flat. Starlight put one front hoof on it and pressed down. It stayed still.
She tested the next stone. It wobbled.
“That one moves,” she called.
Gigi looked carefully. “There's a flat bit beside it. Can you reach that instead?”
Starlight tried the flat bit. It didn't move.
“Yes!”
She stepped across slowly. Gigi waited on the dry grass.
Just before Starlight reached the last stone, a pink blossom floated past her nose.
“Your bridge is following you,” Gigi said.
“Maybe it wants to come and play too.”
One more step, and Starlight was beside her.
Her tail had the same soft rainbow colors as her mane. Tiny sparkles shone in her fur when she moved. Gigi had never seen anyone like her.
“We did it!” Starlight said.
“You found the wobbly stone,” said Gigi. “I couldn't tell it was loose from here.”
“And you found the stones. I was too busy making flowers.”
They walked a little way along the grass. Starlight showed Gigi a flower shaped like a bell. Gigi showed Starlight how to spot a bird's nest high in a tree.
Soon they were talking as if they had known each other for much longer than one morning.
“Is it scary in the forest?” Gigi asked.
Starlight looked back at the trees. “Sometimes an owl surprises me. But there are flowers and streams and places to play. My family lives there.”
Gigi peered between the branches. From this spot, she could see a little path winding into the shade.
“I couldn't see any of that before.”
“Maybe I can show you one day.”
“I'd like that. I'll ask Mama.”
Then Gigi remembered lunch.
“I need to go home!”
They went back to the stones. Starlight checked her footing and crossed to her own bank.
“Shall we meet here again?” she called.
“Tomorrow, if our families say yes.”
A tiny blue light blinked among the leaves behind Starlight. Then it disappeared.
“Did you see that?” Gigi asked.
Starlight turned. “I did. I wonder what it was.”
“Another thing to find out,” said Gigi.
They waved goodbye.
When Gigi reached home, Pip was waiting by the trees.
“Did you find a puddle?”
“Something better,” Gigi said. “I made a friend.”
At lunch, she told her family all about Starlight, the flowers, and the stepping stones. Mama listened while Pip asked if unicorns liked muddy games.
Gigi didn't know yet. But she hoped that tomorrow, she could ask her new friend.