Once upon a time there were no birds. But Sky was lonely and needed song, so the birds came and cheered it up. Now, not all the birds were happy. Some sang sad songs, so
the sky would cry a while. And sometimes the birds
would go away for a long time.
Then Sky would be sad and lonely, and would cry frozen tears until the birds came back. The frozen tears were called Snow and Ice. Sky's tears would blanket Earth and make her beautiful, in hopes that the birds would come back. Some did, but not all. Sky was sad and bleak.
Soon enough, the birds would return. Sky would shine and melt away the blankets that kept Earth asleep. Then, Sky would cry tears of joy at the return of the birds. The earth would swallow up Sky's tears when it was all done; but sometimes Earth couldn't contain so much sorrow, so the tears would wash everything away. This was called flood.
Sometimes Sky became so preoccupied with the singing that it would forget it was sad. It would bring the shining heat on everything and make it pretty for the birds, to entice them to stay. The sad birds would say not a word. The happy birds were too warm to sing. Earth would radiate its fury at the sky. This was called drought.
Sky would not give in. It would fill up with the tears and not release them. It did not want to be sad. It wanted to feel only joy. The pent-up tears and the shining heat would make everything hazy. This was called humidity.
Everyone would pray that some day, Sky would cry again. The plants would scream in abject horror as the sun burnt their flesh. They had no tears from Sky to save them.
The Dancers would come and sing to Sky because the birds were too weak. Sky would boom back at the dancers, wanting the birds. The boom was called thunder.
The Dancers would sing louder, and move in a frenzied pace. Sky would boom back louder, crackling with anger and lighting up with its fury. The crackling would bring lightning.
The Dancers would not let up. They would make fire and circle around and around, their voices reaching up and out.
The Dancers would pray.
The birds would pray.
Earth and the plants would pray.
Sky would finally snap in frustration. The noise was deafening.
And finally, the tears came.
This was called rain.
And the rain was good.