Who Will Comfort Toffle: A Tale of Moomin Valley

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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**Lisa Bueno** (0:30)
Okay, our friends. And now for something a little bit different. You know, I have a special place in my heart for stories that are vintage, old fashioned stories of long ago.
And I also love stories from all over the world. So I was excited to see this one. And I can't wait to share it with you friends. So buckle up for a fun one.
Today's story is called Who Will Comfort Toffle? And the subtitle gives us a little bit of a hint as to what kind of story it is. It says that it's a tale from Moomin Valley. The story was written by Tove Johnson. Today's story is read by Mommy. And...

**SPEAKER_3** (1:19)
Greetings from Hondo Onaka.

**Lisa Bueno** (1:22)
Hondo Onaka?

**SPEAKER_4** (1:24)
The pirate from Star Wars?

**SPEAKER_3** (1:28)
Do you happen to have any Kyber crystals on you? On the black market, they sell for many a dozen.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:39)
Credits? I don't think I have any.

**Lisa Bueno** (1:45)
I'm fresh out, but I tell you what, if we read this book, maybe we might find a little crystal of goodness at the end of it. What do you say?
Now, where do you suppose Moomin Valley is? Any ideas?
So Moomin Valley isn't a place that you can find on our planet. It's a piece of fiction. It's a magical world that a woman who lives in Finland has created for us. And it is a Finnish story that we're about to read. Do you know where Finland is? It's in Scandinavia. Yeah. So let's get right down to it, shall we?
Okay. When we open the book, we can see a beautiful house, but around it are some strange looking creatures making noise. We can see a little boy and he lives in a little house. And it says, who lives inside this little house? It's Toffle. All alone. Poor Toffle doesn't notice quite how lonely he has grown. Outside, he hears the grakes, sharp howl, Himmulun's heavy tread. As nervously, he lights his lamp to guide his way to bed. Around him, forest creatures close their doors against the night, and keep each other safe from harm with smiles and warmth and light. But Toffle's feeling cold and sad.
With no companion near, he burrows under bedclothes, body shivering with fear.

**SPEAKER_5** (3:33)
So who will comfort Toffle?

**Lisa Bueno** (3:37)
Tell him, hush now, it's okay. Life's bound to seem much brighter when tomorrow comes your way.
Outside of his room, we can see a lot of creatures.
Next morning in the foggy gray before the sun comes out, Toffle decides to step outdoors and have a peek about. He made it through the night, but he would rather eat his hat for breakfast every day than spend another night like that. He packs his case and runs headfirst into the mighty gloom. Then, looking back, he sees that all the lamps inside his room are burning low. When Toffle left, he didn't close his door, and now he groans to think of raindrops dripping on his floor.

**SPEAKER_5** (4:37)
But who will comfort Toffle?

**Lisa Bueno** (4:40)
For, in fact, a happy band of fellow Toffles moved straight in and took the place in hand. Oh no, he's lost his home.
So Toffle walks for miles and miles until he sees a crowd of folk, all laughing with each other, taking time to share a joke, but no one spots poor Toffle, and he guesses with dismay that nobody will notice him or even look his way. He watches from the shadows as four filly-jocks scoot past. It looks like filly-jocks are ladies, perhaps. Blonde, do you think, with little hats? They're kind of cute. And they have a lovely little horse and eight contented whoopsies, each more jolly than the last. Whoopsies are tiny little yellow creatures with black spiky hair. They wear stripes and they look very, very happy. Mible and Mai with daisy chains. They're all in party mood. Mible and Mai. Do you think this is a mom and her daughter, perhaps?
Tuffle could go and talk to them, and no one would think him rude, but who will come for Tuffle? Who will tell him in the end, if all you do is hide away, you'll never find a friend. And these characters that you are hearing me describe, the Mible and Mai and the Whompsies and the Filly Junks.