Story: The Cloud That Was Lost

("Cloud in Nepal" via Wikimedia Commons)

            A few centuries ago, there were gigantic mountains that were located in the center of a tropical island. At the very peak of the mountains were a bunch of clouds. These clouds were the fluffiest and whitest clouds on the island – they looked like cotton balls floating in the sky. The mountains and the clouds were really close friends. 

            During the day, the clouds would rest on top of the mountains when they were sleepy. The clouds grew tired frequently, because they were constantly waiting for other heavier clouds to float along and produce storms. 

            The clouds spent the majority of their days either sleeping on the mountaintops or floating around with the wind, bumping against one another. They preferred when the sun was down and the moon was high in the sky, because the sun made them incredibly hot. At night, the clouds could rest lower in the mountains, further away from the sky, creating a fog in the mountains at dawn. 

            One afternoon, one of the younger, smaller clouds named Claus was trying to catch a sun ray. Because there were so many clouds high up in the sky that day, the sun rays were bouncing around very quickly. Claus wanted to catch the sun ray so badly that he kept chasing it until he accidentally floated far away from his siblings and all of the other clouds. Claus looked around frantically, unable to find his family of clouds or the mountains. All he saw was the deep blue ocean that was below him. 

            Claus was so lost that he started crying, producing a rainstorm. All of a sudden, another cloud’s voice caught Claus by surprise.

            “What’s wrong?” the other cloud asked.

            “I am lost and I have no idea how to get back to my family,” Claus replied.

            “Well, I am lost too. Maybe we can find our way back together. What is your name?” she asked. 

            “My name is Claus… what is your name?” Claus asked.

            “Nice to meet you, Claus. My name is Claudia,” she replied. “Now, let’s see if we can find our way back.” 

            For the next few days, Claus and Claudia let the wind carry them, hoping the jet stream would carry them back home. Claus had no idea he had floated so far away from home. 

            “How much longer do you think it will take us to get back home?” Claus asked. 

            “I am not entirely sure…. But when I got lost when I was little, my parents always told me to follow the rainbows. If I followed the rainbows, I would always find my way back home,” Claudia said. 

            So the two clouds kept looking for a rainbow, hoping they would eventually find their way back. After a few more days, they finally came across a big, bright rainbow.            

            “I SEE A RAINBOW,” Claus exclaimed. Claus and Claudia floated as quickly as they could towards the end of the rainbow, and finally came across the mountains and the other clouds.

            Claus found his siblings and gave them a huge hug. Claus was so happy to be back home, and even happier to have a new friend there.  

Author's Note: I based my story off of the story, “The Cloud That Was Lost," from Florence Stratton's "When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends." My story is pretty similar to the original version of the story, except for the second half. In the original story, the lost cloud never goes back home, but instead, rains on flowers giving them color and completely disappears after raining too much. This original ending made me sad because I did not like how the cloud completely disappeared and did not find its way back home. I always want my stories to have a happy ending because I personally find those stories to be more enjoyable to read. Therefore, in my story, I made sure there was a happy ending. I wanted the lost cloud to make a friend while being lost, and then have the two clouds find their way back home together. The original story was pretty short, being only around 400 words, so when I was thinking about how I was going to re-write this story to make it my own, I was a little worried that I might not have enough backstory to work with. However, I think my version of the story ended up turning out pretty well! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it!

Bibliography: "The Cloud That Was Lost," from Florence Stratton's "When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends; link to the reading online