Long ago, the flowers on the cactus were white but they so
desperately wanted to have color. The rainbow had given other plants and
flowers color, but it never came near the cactus plants.
“Hey, Rainbow! Next time would you please set one of your
ends near us so that we can get some color?” A cactus plant called up to the rainbow
one day after a rainstorm which was the only time that the rainbow appeared.
“No! Your thorns are too sharp! I will never set one of my
ends near you and you will never get color!” The rainbow yelled back at the cactus
plant.
This made the cactus plants very sad and caused their
flowers to close up and droop. They understood because they didn’t want to hurt
anyone, but they also wanted to be included. They spent their days watching as
all the other plants got color from the rainbow and prayed to the spirits that
one day they could get color too. The spirits must have been listening because one
day around sunset, a lost cloud drifted over the cactus plants.
The cloud had been chasing its tail all day like a puppy
causing it to get separated from the other clouds. It needed to find the mountain
soon because after the sun set it would be time for the cloud to go to sleep.
Clouds sleep at the peaks of mountains because they grow tired and heavy while waiting
for the rains to come. The little white cloud began to cry and he rained down
on the cactus plants. This caused the cactus plants to grow very excited because
rain meant that the rainbow would come back and maybe give their flowers color.
Instead, the lost cloud became tired and started to sink down into the cactus
plants.
The cactus plant who had called up to the rainbow now called
out to the cloud, “Hey, little cloud! Watch out! We don’t want our spikes to
hurt you!”
The cloud looked over at the cactus plant who had spoken to
him, but it was too late because he was already touching some of the taller
cactus plants spikes. The cloud began to giggle and cried out, “These spikes
tickle!”
This made the cactus plants laugh with happiness. The cactus
flowers, never wanting to be left out, opened back up to see what was going on.
As soon as the flowers touching the cloud opened up, they began to drink in the
red, orange, and yellow colored mist left on the cloud from the sunset. The
cloud noticed this and began to scoot between the cactus plants, so that all the
flowers could get some color. The entire time the cloud giggled as the spikes continued
to tickle him.
When the sun rose in the morning, all the cactus flowers had
color. The mountain was now visible again, so the cloud said his goodbyes and
floated off to be with his cloud friends.
The End.
(Photo from Pinterest)
Author’s Note: This is based off two stories from the Tejas Legends Unit, When The Rainbow Was Torn and The Cloud That Was Lost. In the
story When The Rainbow Was Torn, the rainbow has given all the other flowers
color except for the white cactus flower because of it’s sharp thorns. One day
the rainbow accidently starts placing one of its ends on field of cactus plants.
Only the red, orange, and yellow colors get stuck on the spines while green,
blue, indigo, and violet slip away. The white cactus flowers open and pulls
some of the vapor from the three colors before the rainbow can get unstuck. Therefore,
the cactus flowers are those three colors. In the story The Cloud That Was Lost,
a cloud gets distracted playing and can’t find his way back to the mountain to
sleep with the other clouds, so he decides to sleep in a field. The field is
covered in white flowers who also want color. The cloud is still pink and
purple from the sunset, so the flowers pull the vapor from him until he is all
gone. This is why wild phlox are the colors they are. In my reading notes I
talked about how I felt bad for the cloud basically getting punished for getting
lost and how the rainbow couldn’t get away from the cactus fast enough when it
got stuck. I wanted to change these two aspects and I felt it was best to
combine the two stories.
Bibliography. The Cloud That Was Lost retold by Florence
Stratton and illustrated by Berniece Burrough (1936). Links to reading
Bibliography. When The Rainbow Was Torn retold by Florence
Stratton and illustrated by Berniece Burrough (1936). Links to reading
Hi Kelly! I love this story — it's really sweet and it gives great emotions to objects like plants and clouds. I thought it was super creative how you combined two stories you found similarities in to create one cohesive tale. I did wonder — how did the other plants in the valley and the rainbow feel about/react to the cactus flowers' new colors? I'm really looking forward to reading more like this from you!
ReplyDeleteHi Kelly! This was a great story: I really love origin stories, and I thought you did a beautiful job explaining where the cactus flowers' colors come from. I thought you did a great job of personifying the clouds and cactus plants: it totally makes sense and fits perfectly that a cloud would be soft and giggly and gentle. I like that the cacti, too, were thoughtful about not wanting to hurt others. Great work, keep it up!
ReplyDeleteHi Kelly!
ReplyDeleteWow, this was a great read! I love how all of these stories in this past unit have so much symbolism. You did a great job of retelling the story in a way that still keeps that theme. Being able to personify and bring the elements from the original story more to life also made your story stronger. I haven't read the original story, but after this, I think I'll be a little biased as to which version I like. You did a great job! Thank you for sharing!
Hi Kelly,
ReplyDeleteGreat work on this story! I liked that you retold the story in a way that made it more accessible but it was still true to the original theme of the story! I also liked that you combined two stories from the unit - you gave everything so much character from the clouds to the cactuses! I loved it! Keep up the good work!
Hi Kelly,
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun story! You did a great job personifying the cacti, the rainbow, and the cloud. I was really curious to see how the story turned out, and it has a nice happy ending for everyone involved. The sunset picture is lovely. It might also be nice to have a picture of cactus flowers, since they aren't very common around here.