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At bedtime, she always asked, "What did you do today, little sunbeams?" They always answered, "Oh, we played hide-and-go-seek in the clouds all day, Mother Sun. Now we are sleepy."

She often wondered when they would begin to help her in her work of warming the world. One morning, she woke up too tired to shine all all!

"Mother Sun, what is the matter?", asked the sunbeams. "I am too tired to work today. What will the world do without me?", she said sadly. "Don't worry, Mother Sun. We will do your work today.", cridd the sunbeams. Quickly all the sunbeams went different ways. They did not even wait to find out how they could help.

By evening, Mother Sun was rested. Then the weary sunbeams came slowly home, one by one. Mother Sun tucked them into bed. She asked them how they had done.

One little sunbeam said, "I tried so hard to warm a shivering shepherd boy. I shone until I had no shine left. But I could not warm him."

Another little sunbeams said sadly, "I, too, tried hard. I shone all day on the young plants beaten down by the rain. But I could not dry them. They could not raise themselves up again."

One by one, the other sunbeams told their sad tales of not being able to help.

Then Mother Sun said, "I am proud of you. You trie dto do your best. But one sunbeam does not have enough heat to warm even a little plant. All the sunbeams shining together do. Alone you are weak. Together, you are very strong."

The sunbeams said, "Oh Mother Sun, may we try again, please?" Mother Sun answered, "Yes, tomorrow we will all go out. I will show you how to work together to help the world."

So, with the help of Mother Sun, the sunbeams brightened the world. And so, too, the Sunbeams of South Africa bring joy wherever they go.

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