They say that one evening a merchant arrived in a small town at the edge of the desert, carrying a silver jar. He stood in the square and announced, "I sell moonlight." The richest citizens hurried forward and offered him bags of gold, one after another, but each time he shook his head and said that gold was not what he wanted.
At the back of the crowd stood a poor girl called Safiya. She had no gold. All she had was a lullaby that her mother used to sing to her. Shyly, she began to hum it, and as she hummed, the jar in the merchant's hands began to glow.
The merchant smiled. "Moonlight cannot be bought," he said. "It can only be shared." He put the jar in her hands and walked away into the desert. That night Safiya climbed onto her roof and opened it. A soft light spread over the whole town, and everyone sat quietly under it while the children fell asleep.