Princess Moonbeam bid her farewells to all the people that she would be leaving behind once she returned to the sky.
When the full moon rose, white and brighter than any star in the sky, a brilliant bridge shining with silvery light stretched far out from the sky to the ground.
All movement stopped as the bamboo-cutter, his wife and their neighbours stared in awe at the radiant Moon Lady walking gracefully down the silver bridge, her long wispy hair merging with the moonlight that seemed to follow her.
As she passed villagers the Moon Lady gently approached her child. She wrapped her silvery body around Princess Moonbeam and the two glided back up the bridge to their home in the sky. Princess Moonbeam’s friend, the small blue and black butterfly fluttered along behind them for a ways before returning to rest again on the bamboo–cutter’s shoulder.