THE STORY OF A WATER-DROP.
Once there was a little drop of water. It lived in the great sea with hundreds of other water-drops.
When the sun shone all the little water-drops danced up and down. They looked like diamonds sparkling in the sunshine.
One day something happened. The little water-drop broke into a great many tiny drops.
At the same time it went up in the air. Other drops were going up, too. Up, up, they went, higher, and higher.
At last the water-drops were sailing far above the sea. A strong wind blew them over the land.
A man looked up at them and said, “See this big dark cloud. I think it is going to rain.”
As they sailed along, the air grew very cold. This made the little water-drops creep so close together that they became a shining raindrop.
Soon all the other little water-drops ran together and became raindrops.
They were so heavy that they could not float in the air. So down they all went toward the earth.
Pitter-patter! Pitter-patter! They fell upon the grass, the trees, and the fields.
“It is raining!” cried the children as they ran into the house.
When the rain was over, out came the sun. Then a wonderful thing happened.
Some of the water-drops were not heavy enough to fall to the earth. As the sun shone through them they changed into beautiful colors.
These colors were red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. They formed a bow across the sky.
“Oh, look!” cried the children. “Look at the beautiful rainbow.”
Eva Mayne(Adapted).