The Clockwork Toymaker and Other Fables

The Little Yellow Circle

The little yellow circle was lonely.

She was different from the other children of the sky. The other children had fun. They were light and fluffy, without a care in the world. They were always playing charades and darting around. They would chase each other about and try to guess what they were pretending to be.

But the little yellow circle was different. No-one ever looked at her. And no-one ever tried to guess what she was pretending to be. There wouldn't have been any point. She never changed her shape. She was always the same: just a little yellow circle.

Everyday, from the time she woke up, until the time she went to sleep, she was the same.

And all she ever did was drift aimlessly across the sky. No-one even noticed her. She thought she must be incredibly boring and ugly.

Things had been like this for as long as she could remember. And she was becoming lonelier and lonelier.

One day, while she was watching some of the other children playing a game of charades, she thought that she could stand it no more. The pain of loneliness had become unbearable. She called out to one of the children.

"Hello," she said.

The child stopped. At that moment he was pretending to be a bunny rabbit.

"Hello," the little yellow circle said again. "Can you hear me?"

The bunny rabbit turned his head. He squinted at the little yellow circle. He seemed to be covering his eyes.

"Are you talking to me?" he asked.

The little yellow circle nodded, but the bunny rabbit didn't appear to notice.

"Yes," she said, "I'm sorry to bother you, but I watch you playing all the time. I know I'm boring and rubbish at charades, but no-one ever talks to me."

The bunny rabbit looked confused. He was shifting his shape uncomfortably, becoming less and less bunny-like with every passing second.

"Oh," he said, after an appreciable time, "That's really funny."

"Funny?" said the little yellow circle.

"Yes," said the almost bunny, "I've never heard anything so silly in my life. We notice you all the time, but the way you drift across the sky, you seem so peaceful. We never wanted to bother you."

The little yellow circle swallowed.

"Besides which," the almost bunny continued, "You're so intensely bright – with your golden yellow glow – it's difficult to look at you. I have to shield my eyes to prevent myself from going blind."

"But that's terrible," said the little yellow circle, "I never realised any of this. Peaceful?

Blinding? How awful. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry to cause you so much trouble."

"No trouble," said the almost bunny, now more a fuzzy blob than anything else, "In fact, it's only because of you that we have the light to play our games. At night, when you're asleep, we can barely see at all."

"Really?" said the little yellow circle.

"Yes," said the fuzzy shape, "You're pretty special."

The little yellow circle smiled. She'd never realized any of this.

"Thank you," she said to her companion, who swirled and danced, before bidding her a fond farewell.

I'm special, thought the little yellow circle.