Once upon a sunny day, two little clouds named Fluffy and Puffy were drifting happily across the bright blue sky. They loved to play and chat, but today, there was something special they wanted to do.
“Puffy,” said Fluffy, “I’ve been thinking. Wouldn’t it be fun to be raindrops and fall down to the happy animals and plants below?”
“Oh, yes! I love that idea!” answered Puffy, bouncing with excitement.
“Then let’s start to rain! Things down there are so dry, and they would be ever so glad to see us,” continued Fluffy, turning towards the big, hot sun to get a little warmer.
So the two little clouds waited to get a wee bit warmer. But wait as they might, they did not get cool.
“I don’t feel ready to rain quite yet,” said Fluffy.
“Neither do I,” said Puffy.
For a little while, they both drifted close to the hot sun, but it was of no use.
“Oh dear!” cried Fluffy, “I don’t think I shall ever get cool.”
“Say, Fluffy,” said Puffy, “let’s play a game. We’ll pretend that we are our little black friend, the coal, and go rushing down, down, down until we hit the ground, ‘thump, thump.’ It will be such fun! Although it is really very hot, we’ll pretend that we are running away from the sun.”
“All right,” said Fluffy, and then they both began to run down, down, down. But all at once, just as they were going to call out, “thump, thump,” and og back to their places in the sunny sky, they began to tingle all over; and before either of them knew it, they were really raining down to the dry ground!
“Oh dear, oh dear!” cried Fluffy. “I never meant to rain! Suppose I never stop again, and fall as big raindrops! Oh, I must run back to the big hot sun; there’s no place for me except up in the sky. Then I will hide behind the bright sun, and nobody will know where I have gone!” So he began to rush back.
“Oh, don’t go! Please don’t go!” said little Puffy, who was still tingling all over.
But Fluffy ran as fast as he could. Down, down, he went; but he was in such a hurry that he fell plump into a big raindrop; and before he could say: “Puffy was right, and I was wrong!” he found himself running away over the green fields, and on and on until he splashed into the nice pool of water.
“Well,” said he, “I am here now, anyway.”
But he could not find his friend Puffy anywhere. For, when Fluffy had started back, his friend had gone rushing down to see what would happen. “Why, it is quite nice here,” said he, “and just cool enough for a little cloud.”
He then splashed up all the little green blades of grass around where he was, so that he was just a little cloud spot in a fine green field.
“Where are you, Fluffy? Where are you, Fluffy?” he cried.
But Fluffy was far away in a champaign.
“Where are you, Puffy? Where are you, Puffy?” he cried.
But there was no answer.
“Oh, dear!” said little Fluffy, “I do hope I shall find him.” But he did not.
As soon as it was cool in the evening, they both started up into the sky, but they met nowhere. Mother Nature saw them both running up as fast as they could, and said to them: “Why did you both go down if you did not want to stay?”
“We wanted a little fun, Mother Nature,” both little clouds answered.
“But you have not learned yet, my children,” said she gently, “that you cannot play without getting into trouble. Anyway, you ought to help your friends. And it is much easier for one little cloud to help another than for one to rain down and one go back up again. If you had helped each other a little, you would have had more courage.”
“Yes, and we would not both have had to come up just now,” spoke Fluffy, with a little chuckle.
“Oh, I am so glad to hear you say that, Fluffy,” answered farmer’s little boy, jumping around with glee.
The two little clouds soon began to look for one another in the sunny sky. Fluffy searched all round for little puffy, and little puffy searched all round for flufy; but it was not until they came tumbling up and sparkled all over with bright dew, just after the nice puddles of rain-water had been soaked up by little plants and animals in the cool evening, that they found one another again.
“Oh, dear, how warm it feels!” they both cried.
And then they were angels again.