Once upon a time, after a heavy rain, all the animals in the woods began to wake up from their slumber. The sun was shining, and everything looked bright and new. A lovely little glade filled with blooming flowers and lush green grass woefully missed one of its inhabitants—a fairy named Rina. She was worried because she was different from the other fairies; she had many colors in her dress, which was adorned with a white lacy ruff around her neck. Moreover, she could fly like the others, but she never wanted to go far away from the spot where she was born. Her home was a beautiful arched house made of petals of various flowers. Rina had many sparkling jewels, each a different color; but instead of wearing them, she used them to make all the birds and animals around her happy, as they were very fond of pretty things. This went on for a long time.
Now Rina was so busy making her friends around her happy that she forgot to make herself happy. This rainy night, she felt quite sad and thought, “I am very foolish. Here am I, different from all my sisters in the fairy world and making them all happy with the colors that did not belong to them, and now no one thinks to come and play with me.” Then she peeped out of her house and saw the sun shining as brightly as ever.
Rina’s heart danced for joy. She put on her little dress and tied a lovely wreath round her neck, and, hastening to her playmates, she said, “Come, dear friends, come. Come and see what I can do.” But, strange to say, not one of them came. This made Rina very sad again, and it was not until a small bluebird flew by that she was comforted. He darted through the leaves of the trees all round her, and sang, “What a lovely frolic you call yours, Rina.” And Rina said:
“Oh, but one wants friends to share one’s amusement!” Then the toy trumpet he was playing on ceased to sound, and the little bird sprang up in the air, catching a droplet of rain on his wing. When it turned quickly round in the sunlight, a lovely rainbow stood in the sky.
“Hello, Rina, hello,” sang a gentle butterfly. And Rina said, “I do not feel as if I deserve to look upon the bright colors of Nature, when all my poor friends have gone.”
“Nonsense,” said the butterfly; “that’s muff-dogs that are always nursing their feelings. You have colors that Nature has not thought of putting in her dress this morning; she will give you yours, Rina, and the other fairies theirs.” So saying, the butterfly fluttered off.
And, sure enough a glorious rainbow stood in the sky, almost over Rina’s pretty glade, while the trees waved in the gentle breeze, the flowers laughed, and, as they bowed themselves, their perfumes kissed the air. Now Rina felt different; her heart was so light that she rejoiced that she was of a different color from the colors of the rainbow. And as she thought all this, her vivid hue began to disappear, and she soon became aware that her nice deep brown was now as gay as those of her sisters, who came fluttering through the trees.
Rina looked up into the sky and saw how Nature was rejoicing over what she had done for her sister fairies by seeing what were their colors. The butterfly was quite right after all.