Once upon a time, in a land far away at the edge of the world. A land of very high mountains and eternal snow, Dragons made their home. They were very big Dragons, with golden wings and bodies in different colors. The Dragon babies that hatched from the big golden eggs were born green. They changed color as they grew up. The Dragons lived in big caves high in the mountains. Because they lived so high up it was nearly always misty with low clouds. Most of the young Dragons never saw the sun until they took their first big flying trip with their mentor.

Every young dragon had a Mentor. Mentors were the very old Dragons. They had lived a long time already and had gained a lot of knowledge and experience during their life. The old Dragons were treasured by the community and held in high regard. The old knowledge was passed on from generation to generation and no wisdom was ever lost. The young Dragons were taught from very young to respect the old Dragons. To listen to their stories and learn from them.

Today there was a lot of excitement in the caves. It was Hatching Day. Mother Dragons laid their eggs once every 7 years and all the babies hatched on the same day. The Mothers looked after their eggs in one of the biggest caves, where they all lived together. It was very important to speak and sing to the eggs, so the babies would feel loved even before they were born. Because the Mothers lived together, the eggs were never left alone. There were always some Mothers around to talk and sing to the eggs. The Father Dragons were kept very busy providing the food for the Mothers.

It was a hectic time of year. Fathers flying in and out of the caves and Mothers singing to the eggs. The caves were alive with a constant humming sound, a happy sound. The sound of new life to come. Today it was even busier. The old Dragons were arriving with the young Dragons. They were going to the big cave and watch the eggs hatch. A special occasion for the whole community.

The eggs were starting to crack The Mothers sung softly, songs of encouragement and love. One egg cracked first and a baby Dragon poked its head out, to look at the new world it found itself in. The other eggs cracked too then and a whole lot of green colored baby Dragons stood together in the middle of the cave. The Mothers surrounded them and talked to them with soft loving words.

As they were doing that one of the young Dragons looked at the first egg that had cracked. ‘Look,’ he said and everyone looked. The baby Dragon was still sitting near the egg and it was grey. Not a bright green like the other babies, but a dull grey and its wings were grey too. It looked like a little shadow of a Dragon, sitting quietly by itself. Watching all the movement around it. The cave became very quiet as everybody looked at this strange baby. There had never been a grey baby before. Baby Dragons were green!

All the Dragons looked at the Mentor Dragons, to see if they had seen that before. One of the oldest Dragons spoke and said, ‘from my experience, this has never happened before. A long time ago, we had a Dragon born without wings but even that one was green.’ Nobody really knew what to say. The little grey baby saw them all looking and put its head down. It looked very dejected.

At that the oldest Mentor Dragon went over to the baby and talked softly to it. Loving words, words of comfort. Then he looked at the other Dragons and said, ‘she is one of our babies and her color does not matter. I will be her Mentor and will call her "Cloud" She does look a little grey cloud.’ He led her to the Mothers. They were looking a bit ashamed at not making sure all the babies were together. They put Cloud in the middle of the other babies, but she still stood out like a little shadow.

As Cloud grew up, life went on as normal. She listened to the stories told by the Mentors and was taught along with the other young Dragons. She learned that her Mentors name was Ozziah and he was the oldest of the Dragons. Sometimes she felt very different from the other Dragons and alone. She was the only grey Dragon amongst colored Dragons. When she got older, the other young Dragons started to show the colors they were going to be. She kept hoping a miracle would happen. That one day she would wake up and find that her tail had turned a deep blue. That was her favorite color. In young Dragons, that is where their adult color showed up first. It never happened and she would look very sad.

When Ozziah saw that he would call her to him and tell Cloud her favorite story. The tale of a green Dragon, born without wings. A Dragon that felt so different, he went to live by himself in a cave. He lived a lonely life until he met a boy named Peter. The people of Peter’s village knitted him wings. Beautiful rainbow wings. He came back to live with the Dragons again. However, he missed Peter and the people of the village he had made friends with. After a while, he decided to go back to the cave he had been living in. He used to come back and visit every once in a while. Nobody had seen him for a long time now.

Cloud always felt comforted by that story. It was good to know she was not the only different dragon. When she grew older, she was taught to fly, along with the other young Dragons. To her surprise, Cloud found that the color of her wings made no difference to the flying. Although she did not have golden wings like the others, she was the fastest. She could beat any of them on their flights around the mountains. It was important to be able to fly well and strong.

Soon it would be time for their first adult flight. Together with the Mentor Dragons, they would fly out of the mountains and into the valley below. It would be a long flight. For the first time, they would see the sun. They were taught about the sun, but had never seen it. The mountain that was the Dragon’s home was so high, that clouds always covered it. Other Dragons that had made the flight used to speak about the sun. It was like a bright glowing ball. You could not look at it directly. The light was so bright, it hurt your eyes after a while. No Dragon could stay in the valley for very long. In the past some foolish Dragons had tried and found that it had affected their eyesight. Some of them even went blind. The valley was not a place to stay in very long. The Mentor Dragons told the young Dragons, why the light was so bright. Because of the snow on the mountains. That reflected the light extra strong. Eventually all the young Dragons could fly well enough and were ready to make the journey.

They set off early in the morning. Cloud flew in front with Ozziah beside her. It was a long flight down though the clouds and the young Dragons noticed the light getting brighter. Suddenly, they were through the clouds. Felt the warmth of the sun and saw the valley below them. The Dragons saw something else too…..They were so surprised, that they nearly forgot to fly. Cloud, who was flying in front of them, was not grey anymore! With the sun shining on her and reflecting of her scales and wings, she had turned all the colors of a rainbow. She was the most magnificent colored Dragon they had ever seen. Her wings were like gossamer rainbows dancing. Her body glowed with ever-changing colors. As all the Dragons settled on the valley floor, they could not stop looking at Cloud.

‘We have to give you another name,’ the other Dragons said. ‘We will call you "Rainbow" from now on. ‘You look like a sparkling Rainbow in the middle of us.’

Cloud looked at herself unbelievingly. The miracle had happened. She was not a grey dragon anymore. She looked up at the sun and found she was able to look at it. The light did not affect her in the least. Of all the Dragons, she was not only the brightest colored. She would also be able the stay in the valley as long as she wanted to. Maybe she could even visit the green Dragon she had heard so much about all her life. She was the strongest flyer and she knew she would be able to fly that far. She looked at Ozziah and felt a deep gratitude for the old Mentor Dragon.

Ozziah, who had taken a shadow grey baby Dragon under his wings. Who had always known when she felt extra sad about being grey. He had comforted her with stories of a green Dragon, born without wings. Stories, to show her she was not the only different Dragon. Cloud looked at herself again, not "Cloud" any more. She was "Rainbow" the most beautiful colored Dragon of them all.

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