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"Is it going to rain all day long?"
the fairy said. Sunny wasn’t feeling too sunny at this moment. She wanted
to fly around Periwinkle Glen and play with all her friends, Mouse,
Grasshopper and Dragonfly, but right now, all she could do was sit under
the puffy brown mushroom and wait until the raindrops stopped falling.
Butterfly sat next to her, trying not to get her wings wet. Sunny’s chin
lay in her hand and a pout decorated her face. "I want it to stop raining.
I never want it to rain again!" Butterfly nodded her head and agreed.
After a while the rain stopped.
Drops of rain dripped from every leaf on every branch of every tree. They
dripped from the flower petals and from the prickly purple thistle. The
animals of the meadow came out of their homes to sip the water. Frog
jumped into a puddle and splashed water all over a tall, peach-colored
iris. Ladybug flew from raindrop to raindrop, looking at her reflection
and giggling. Squirrel stood under the leaves and caught the drops in his
mouth. Sunny didn’t notice any of it. She and Butterfly climbed out from
under the mushroom. They shook their wings off and Sunny smiled when she
felt the sun’s warmth on her face. "This is much better. The sky is blue,
the sun is out and there’s no rain!"
Day after day Sunny and Butterfly
played in the meadow. They played leapfrog; they flew between the tree
trunks and threw soft, fluffy clover balls at each other. It didn’t rain
and both of them were very happy. After a while Sunny began to notice
something. Instead of being bright yellow like her dress, the sunflowers
were nodding and turning brown. The blue morning glories were shriveling
up. The stream that runs through the glen got smaller and didn’t flow as
fast and the tall grasses were yellowing.
One day she was walking through the
grass and heard soft whimpers. She parted the grass and saw that it was
Mouse. "What’s the matter, Mouse?" she asked. Butterfly flew down to the
ground and landed next to them. She was concerned too. Mouse started to
cry and told Sunny how her children were thirsty and there was no water.
Sunny told her to take them to the stream and get them a drink.
No matter where she went in
Periwinkle Glen, all the animals seemed to be sad. Some were crying and
others were lying down, too thirsty to move. "Butterfly, all the animals
in the meadow are thirsty. I want the sunflowers to be yellow. I want the
violets to be purple and the roses to be red. Everything is turning brown,
even the grass. We need some rain!" Butterfly nodded her head. "Oh,
Butterfly. I wished that it would never rain again, but I see that we do
need the rain so that the flowers will grow and the animals can have
drinks. The stream needs to be full so that it will flow through the
meadow. The deer and bears and raccoons all need to drink from it. I want
it to rain again, Butterfly," she sighed.
Sunny didn’t sleep well that night.
She couldn’t stop thinking about poor Mouse and how sad she was or how
brown the leaves were turning on the oak tree. In the morning, when dawn
came, it began to rain. It rained and it rained. All day long it rained.
Sunny was so happy. Butterfly was so happy. Mouse and Ladybug were happy.
Squirrel was happy and so was Raccoon. The sunflowers became a brighter
yellow than Sunny had ever seen them. The stream filled with cool water
and flowed quickly through the meadow. The leaves turned green and stood
straight up, reaching for the raindrops, drinking them all in. "This is
much better. Periwinkle Glen needs water. I’m thankful for the rain," she
laughed. She and Butterfly chased each other through the wet meadow. Drops
drizzled in her eyes and got her pretty red hair wet. Her dress got
soaking wet too, but Sunny was happy. Everyone in the meadow was happy. |
