A bedtime story for children. Tonight is the community soup night on Bellhill's square: Rosa stirs her big pot, the tables are set outside, and the whole village is sitting down together, Nino and Captain Marta included, no uniforms, just to share a meal. Then there's a loud electric click, and everything goes out at once. The streetlamps, the windows, the fairy lights. Complete darkness.

A brief, surprised silence falls over the square, then a worried murmur runs through the children sitting around the pot. The darkness, all at once, feels very big and very thick. Bruno wants to call the next town, the region, maybe the whole country. Captain Marta, for her part, starts by blowing out a candle, exactly the way she has everyone else breathe out when they start to panic.

They try Big Red's big spotlight: the light is so strong that everyone squints, and shadows grow huge on the walls, even more startling than the dark. They try fixing the big electrical box: it's locked, and the repairman won't come until tomorrow. So Nino suggests something else. Instead of one huge light, lots of tiny ones. Everyone runs home to fetch what they have, candles, flashlights, night-lights, battery fairy lights, and the square lights up softly, in little warm dots.

As the story unfolds, your child discovers that a hiccup can turn into a beautiful moment, and that the dark isn't scary when you fill it together with little lights. They also learn that a gentle solution, carried by everyone, is often worth more than a spectacular one carried by just one person.

The blackout turns into the loveliest evening of the year. No one is scared anymore, and everyone wants to do it again. Back at the fire station, Captain Marta blows out the last candles one by one, the boots line up from the biggest to the smallest, and the evening bell closes the day.

The child who whispers that the dark is a little scary doesn't hear anyone say there's nothing to fear. Captain Marta crouches down to their level and agrees with them, before handing them a candle to hold: this way of validating the feeling before offering a solution is the whole spirit of Tilibou bedtime stories. And all the while, spoons clink against bowls, and the candlelit square makes hardly any sound at all.

A screen-free firefighter story for children from age 3, perfect to enjoy warm and cozy at bedtime, in the car, or before a nap. As always with Tilibou, the ending stays soft and quiet, without music, so your child can drift off to sleep without waking anyone up. 🚒

👉 All the Tilibou bedtime stories at tilibou.com

💡 Tip: to listen to one world back-to-back, choose its season (Noisette, Léo, Cassie, Marin, Tom the Pirate, Nino the Little Firefighter, or the Christmas, Halloween and School seasons).

✉️ Contact: contact@tilibou.fr

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