In a single sunbeam that flew from the sky to the earth to tickle a sleeping kitten on the window, there lived seven little sisters. They were not just any sisters. They were as colorful as the most beautiful crayons in a box. When they held hands tightly and danced together, no one could tell them apart. Their dance together shone so brightly and purely that the light was completely white.
The eldest and the bravest was Ruby. She wore a dress like ripe strawberries and always wanted to be first. Right next to her hopped Amber, as cheerful as an apricot, and she always carried the sweet scent of oranges in her pockets. The third, Sunny, laughed so infectiously that dandelions bloomed from her laughter. Her hair was like little suns.
Then there was Jade, quiet and wise, who knew the secrets of every leaf and blade of grass. Next to her dreamed Skye, with eyes like the summer sky. She loved peace and quiet. The sixth in line was the mysterious Indigo, the color of the deep night just before dawn. She loved riddles and pondering. And finally, the youngest, Violet, gentle and shy like a little flower hiding in the grass.
Together, they formed a perfect white unity. They traveled through the universe at the speed of light, and their greatest fun was to jump down to earth and warm the backs of ladybugs or dry wet leaves after the rain.
One day, after a brief summer shower, a single forgotten raindrop was left hanging in the air. It was large, round, and shiny like a glass marble. "Look! What a beautiful gate!" called Ruby, and without hesitation, she flew right into it. "Wait, Ruby, together!" the others cried, but it was too late. They flew into the droplet right after her.
And then, something wonderful happened. The drop of water acted like a magic mirror. When the beam passed through its belly, it suddenly split apart. The sisters, who had been holding hands so tightly, were separated from one another. Each flew on her own path, leaving a trail of her color behind her.
"Wow! I'm all red!" rejoiced Ruby as she looked at herself. "And I'm orange like a sunset!" laughed Amber. Sunny, Jade, Skye, Indigo, and Violet admired themselves too. For the first time in their lives, they saw themselves separately, in their full beauty. They formed a magnificent colored arch in the sky.
Down in the garden, on a lettuce leaf, sat a little snail named Spot. He was just cleaning his shell from the rain when he saw the spectacle in the sky. "Wow!" he whispered. "That's the most beautiful slide in the world!"
The sisters were delighted for a moment, but then Violet began to cry softly. "Where are you all? I can't hold your hand." "I can't hold yours either," said Skye, looking around. They were arranged in a precise order, just as they had stood side by side in the beam, but there was a gap between them. They couldn't touch.
"We must reunite!" commanded Ruby. "Let's try to run towards each other!" They ran as fast as they could, but it was no use. They were as if nailed to their places in the arch. It was a beautiful arch, but it was also their prison.
"This isn't working," stated Jade, who noticed every detail. "We are arranged in a band, but we can't move from it. What now?"
"I know!" Indigo had an idea. "When you mix colors on paper, you get a new color. Let's try sending a piece of our color onto one big leaf and we'll join there!" They found a large burdock leaf, and each sent a piece of her glow to its center. Red met with orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. But instead of a bright white light, only a strange, dark, brownish-gray smudge appeared on the leaf.
"Oh, no," said Sunny sadly. "It looks like mud. Why isn't it working?" Skye, who was the most thoughtful, sighed. "Because we aren't crayons in a box. We are light. Our joining is different. Back in the beam, we didn't overlap; we danced together so fast that no one saw us separately."
The sisters grew sad. They sat in the sky like a sad, though beautiful, colored necklace, and they didn't know how to return home to their white beam.
Spot the little snail had been watching them the whole time. He felt sorry that the sisters were sad. He looked around the garden to see if he could help them in any way. Suddenly, on the path, he noticed something glistening. It was a small piece of glass that someone must have lost. It had strange edges; it wasn't flat. When Sunny shone on it, the little piece of glass reflected her yellow light onto the wall of the house.
"Aha!" cried Spot. "The little piece of glass can send your light onward!" The sisters looked in his direction with curiosity. "What if...?" whispered Indigo. "What if the droplet was like a door out... and this piece of glass could be like a door in?"
"An excellent idea!" agreed Ruby. "We have to try! But how?" "Maybe we have to line up again and fly into it all at once, in the right order," suggested Jade. "Just like we were before."
And so it began. "I'm first!" shouted Ruby. "Amber, come next to me!" "I'm coming!" "Sunny, third!" "Jade, fourth!" With the help of Spot the snail, who guided them from below, the sisters lined up precisely so that they were all aimed at the small glass prism.
"Get ready!" called Ruby. "Now... TOGETHER!" All seven colored streams flew into the piece of glass at once. And the second magic happened. The glass joined their rays back into one. From the other side flew a single, bright, white beam of light, which landed right on the little flower next to Spot the snail.
The sisters were holding hands tightly again and laughing. They were together again, safe in their white home. "Thank you, Spot!" they all said at once. "We wouldn't have figured it out without you!" "It was nothing," the little snail smiled. "But it was a beautiful sight when you were shining in the sky."
"You know what, Spot?" said Violet. "Now we know the secret. We know how to separate and how to join together again. Whenever the sun shines after it rains, we will come and show you our colorful parade above the garden. It is called a rainbow."
And so it came to be. The sisters are still together in every sunbeam that warms us. But when raindrops appear in the air, they love to rush out and show the world their beautiful colors.
What do you think, children? Will you try to make your own rainbow at home with your parents' help? All you need is a glass of water, a sunbeam, and a piece of white paper. When the sun shines through the water in the glass, perhaps the seven dancing sisters will appear on the paper. Notice the order in which they always appear.