The Cloud That Stayed

A Tale of Finding Your Place and Being There

For children ages 3–7. Approximate listening time: 8 minutes.

Transcript

The Cloud That Stayed: A Tale of Finding Your Place and Being There High above a little green valley, where the hills rolled like sleepy giants beneath the sky, lived a small cloud named Misty. Misty was round and white and soft around the edges. And every morning, she floated beside dozens of other clouds as they began their journey across the sky. Good morning, Misty! Good morning, Sky! Ready to travel? I think so. Think so? Come on, Misty! The whole sky is waiting! Whoa! Breeze! Mountains! Rivers! Forests! Oceans! There are a thousand places to see! Do we really have to see all of them today? Of course! That's what clouds do! We move! We wander! We— —WHEEEEE! He certainly moves. That he does. One by one, the clouds began drifting east. And Misty followed. At least… for a little while. Faster, Misty! I'm coming! Wait! Wait! Please! Did you hear that? Hear what? Up here! Well… down here! Hello! Oh! Hello, little bird. My name is Pip. And you're a cloud. I am. A real cloud! As far as I know. Then could you please look down? Misty looked down. Far below was a meadow. But instead of being bright and green, the grass was pale and dry. There was no sparkling stream. No muddy puddles. Not even a single drop of dew. What happened? It hasn't rained for a very long time. The little pond is almost gone. The bees have flown farther away to find flowers. And the flowers… Well. Come and see. Misty floated lower. Lower than the other clouds. Lower than she had ever flown before. And there, in the middle of the dry meadow, stood one tiny flower. Hello? Hello. Are you… a rain cloud? I'm just a cloud. I've never really thought about what kind. Oh. Why? Because I could really use some rain. Just a little. My roots are very thirsty. Can't another cloud help? They all keep moving. They pass over the meadow… but they never stay long enough. Never? Never. Misty looked toward the horizon. Her cloud friends were getting farther and farther away. Miiiiisty! Come on! I should go. Oh. Of course. Clouds have places to be. Yes. I suppose we do. But… maybe this is a place too. Misty! What are you doing? I'm staying here for a while. Staying? Yes. Clouds don't stay! Clouds drift! Clouds explore! Clouds chase sunsets! I know. But Daisy needs rain. Then rain! I don't know how. Oh. Neither do I. I'm wind. Maybe you have to get bigger. How? Eat something? Clouds don't eat. Are you sure? Pretty sure. Maybe I can help! Breeze! What are you doing? Gathering! There are tiny bits of mist everywhere! Over the trees… above the little pond… and over the cool side of the hill! Round and round Breeze flew. Little wisps of moisture rose into the air. And slowly… Misty began to change. She grew wider. Then taller. Then softer and heavier. Oh! I feel… different. You look different! You're gray underneath! Gray?! That's good! I think! Probably! All right. I'm ready. Rain! Nothing happened. I noticed. Let me try again. Rain! Please? I felt something! One drop! Only one? Try harder! RAAAAAIN! Two! Oh, this is impossible. Misty looked at the dry meadow below. She had stayed. She had grown. She had tried. But still, she could not make the rain fall. Maybe I'm not the right cloud. You stayed. But I haven't helped you. You stayed. No cloud has ever done that before. That feels like something. Misty? Sky! You came back! Of course. We noticed someone was missing. She's trying to make rain! We got two drops. Two excellent drops. Hmm. Misty… are you afraid to let the water go? Let it go? Rain isn't something you push out. Sometimes… you simply become full enough… and stop trying to hold everything inside. But what if I disappear? You may become smaller. You may change. But water never really disappears. It falls. It flows. It rises. And one day… it becomes a cloud again. So I don't have to hold on? No. You only have to be ready to give. Misty grew very quiet. She stopped trying to rain. She stopped worrying about where the other clouds had gone. She stopped wondering whether clouds were supposed to stay… or supposed to leave. Instead, she looked down at Daisy. At Pip. At the dry grass. At the little pond waiting below. Oh! Misty! I'm doing it? You're doing it. Rain! Rain! It's raining! Wahoooo! Look at you, Misty! Rain danced across the meadow. It tapped against stones. It splashed into the little pond. It rolled down leaves… soaked into the earth… and reached the tiny roots beneath Daisy's feet. Ahhhhh. That feels wonderful. Look! The pond! Little streams of rainwater ran down the hillside. The dusty ground darkened. The grass bent happily beneath the drops. And for the first time in many days… the meadow smelled like rain. At last, the rain slowed. Misty was much smaller now. Just a tiny puff of cloud floating above the meadow. Oh. I really did get smaller. Tiny Misty! Breeze. Sorry. Small-but-mighty Misty? Better. Listen! Birds returned to the meadow. Bees buzzed between the wet flowers. The little pond shimmered beneath the morning light. Misty? Yes? Thank you for staying. I'm glad I did. And now? Will you stay forever? Hmm. No. I don't think so. Really? There are mountains I haven't seen. And rivers. And forests. And oceans. That's what I've been saying! But, Breeze? Yes? We don't have to rush. Oh. Can we rush… slowly? We can try. Will you come back? I don't know exactly where the wind will take me. But someday… when the meadow needs rain… look up. We will. Ready? Ready. Then let's go. And so Misty floated on. Not because everyone else was moving. Not because clouds were supposed to hurry across the sky. But because now she knew something she had not known before. There is a time to wander. A time to discover. A time to move on. And sometimes… there is a time to stay. Because finding your place doesn't always mean finding where you belong forever. Sometimes… it means noticing where you are needed right now. Far below, Daisy lifted her petals toward the sun. Pip splashed in the newly filled pond. And high above them, a tiny white cloud drifted toward the horizon. Slowly. Happily. And in no hurry at all. The end.

The Cloud That Stayed

Transcript

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