001Hello my friends. Welcome to calling all kids. I'm your storyteller, Jennifer Temple. I'm so glad you're joining me today for some stories about rainbows. I even felt like drawing a rainbow. So, today I made drew a picture of a rainbow. Have you ever driven drawn a rainbow before? Well, you can just get six different colors and you can use red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple and draw your own rainbow. And you know, when I look at a rainbow, it makes me smile. And it even makes me think of a smiley face when the rainbow is upside down. Kind of fun. And also, I always feel like rainbows are like magic out in nature. When it has a little bit of sprinkling rain and the sun is out, the sun is reflected in the raindrops
002and it makes a rainbow. So, our stories today are about rainbows, and hopefully they'll make you smile, especially if it's cold and snowy where you are, and you just want to start thinking about spring. So, our first story is called Rainbow Crow. Have you ever seen a rainbow crow before? No, I haven't either. And by the end of this story, you will know why you've never seen a rainbow crow. And you've only seen a black crow. Are you ready to find out why? All right, here we go. So, it's called Rainbow Crow and it's written by Nancy Van Lawn. She wrote the words, the story, and then it's illustrated by Beatatric Fedel. She did the illustrations. Isn't that a beautiful crow? Rainbow Crow. Here we go. Hope you enjoy the beautiful illustrations here. Rainbow Crow.
003Long long ago, before the two-leggeds walked the earth, they mean before the humans were living on Earth, the weather was always warm and the animals were always happy. They look very happy in their environment, don't they? But one day, something happened to cause the earth to grow cold. Tiny crystals glittering like diamonds drifted down from the sky, covering the earth with a sparkling softness. The animals, seeing snow for the first time, were not afraid. We're kind of curious like when we have our first snow, how excited we all get. But soon the snow deepened and the mouse disappeared. The tip of his tail was all the animals could see and they began to worry. Can you see the mouse's tail right here? Just his tail is showing. Then the rabbit disappeared. The tips of his
004ears were all the animals could see. And they worried more. See the little rabbit's ears? It just keeps on snowing and it's too deep for these little animals. At last, the animals gathered together in a clearing deep inside the forest to talk about the weather. What was needed, they decided, was a messenger to travel at once to the great sky spirit and ask him to stop the snow. But who would be willing to leave Earth to visit the distant place where the sky spirit dwelled? That means where the sky spirit lives. I didn't know there was a sky spirit. Awesome said. Owl is the wisest. Perhaps he should go. But no, the animals whispered. he might get lost in the day of light. So, the owl should not go because remember how owls they usually
005sleep during the day and they're awake during the night. So, they're worried when it turns daytime he'll get lost. Then Beaver said, "Perhaps raccoon should go." But no, the animals argued he might follow his tail in his tail instead of his nose. So, raccoon should not go. Then skunk said, "Perhaps coyote should go." But no, the animal shouted. Coyote is clever and loves to play tricks. He might chase the clouds or swallow the wind. So coyote should not go. Who do you think they're going to send? Squitch. Squitch. Squatch. The noisy animals screeched and howled because they could not decide who should visit the great sky spirit to ask him to stop the snow. And so the snow grew deeper and deeper and deeper. The small animals climbed on top of the tall animals so
006that they would not disappear. And look how the animals all helping each other out. That's what kind friends do. Here comes the rainbow crow. Is that who you predicted? Let's see if that's who they sent. Suddenly, down from the top of the tallest tree blew rainbow crow, the most beautiful bird on earth, who called out to all the animals below in the sweetest voice of all the birds. And he sang, "I will go. It will stop the snow." And the animals happy at last have crow as their messenger chanted a song of praise. Aya aya rainbow crow stop the snow crow fly to the high sky. Rain rainbow crowy. Oh, isn't that nice of crow to be willing to fly and talk to the spirit in the sky? Then high up into the sky flew
007the rainbow crow. Far above the snow and the winds of the earth. Way beyond the moon and the stars and the clouds. For three days crow flew until he came upon the great sky spirit who is too busy to notice him. So rainbow crow began to sing. Oh great spirit in the sky. You rule the earth from way up high. You make the creatures loud and small. You are the ruler of us all. You make the trees and flowers grow. You cause the wind and clouds to blow. You make the rain. You make the snow. You make the cold earth on the earth below. Oh great spirit in the sky. for you. I sing this lullaby. So, he's singing away. Do you think that's going to get the spirit's attention? Let's find out. The great
008spirit stopped to listen to the lullabi. Never before had he heard such a sweet voice, such a beautiful song. And he told Crow to choose a gift. Now Crow knew that far below on earth the snow was getting so deep that soon all the animals would disappear. So he asked the great spirit to stop the snow. The great spirit replied, "No, crow, I cannot stop the snow, for the snow has a spirit of its own." When the snow spirit leaves the clouds to visit with his friends, wind spirit, the snow will stop. But earth will still be cold. So Crow asked the great spirit to stop the cold. The great spirit replied, "No, Crow, I cannot stop the cold. All I can do is give you the gift of fire. Fire will keep you warm
009and will melt the snow so that your friends will be content until warm weather returns. The great spirit picked up a stick. Put a bit of fire on the end of it and handed it to Crow. I will give you this gift but once, only once. Hurry to fly back to Earth before the fire disappears. Off flew crow. So, do you understand? He's going to take this fire stick back and help melt the snow so that all his friends will be safe and not buried underneath the snow. On the first day, as Crow flew down, showering sparks a fire darkened his beautiful tail feathers. On the second day, as Crow flew down, the fire burned brighter and the stick grew shorter and all of Crow's feathers were covered with soot. Soot is very black that
010is made from the fire. So, it's all black. It's a black substance substance. On the third day, as Crow flew down, the fire was so hot and the stick was so short that smoke and ash blew into Crow's mouth, and his voice became cracked and horsed. So, he didn't have his beautiful singing voice any longer. And when at last Crow returned to the clearing in the forest, all the animals had disappeared. They were all underneath the snow. Only the tops of the tallest trees could be seen, their branches sprouting through the deep snow. So Crow flew down close to the pale pale ground around and around until the fire melted the snow and his friends were safe. The snow's melting and here comes all his friends who are buried under the snow. It's kind of
011frightening, isn't it? And this tiny stick of fire became the grandfather of all fire fires. And for this all the animals on the earth thanked crow. They danced and chanted. A song of praise. I kind young brave crow saved us from snow. Flew to the sky high. Brought back fire. Now just a plain crow. No more rainbow. Aya. Wow. Did crow sacrifice a lot to help save his friends? Did. Let's find out. Now he's just a black crow. And last crow all alone flew off to a distant tree where he wept. He was no longer beautiful. He could no longer sing a sweet song. His beautiful rainbow feathers were gone forever. When snow spirit emptied the clouds and joined Wind Spirit, the snow stopped. But Crow still wept. Wept means he cried. It's very sad.
012He's glad he helped his friends, but he's sad that he lost all his rainbow feathers. The great sky spirit heard crow and came down from the sky. And when he saw crow, he said, "Soon the two-leggeds will appear on earth." So I mean soon humans will be here. He will take the earth. He will take the fire and be master of all. But you for being so brave and unselfish, I give you the gift of freedom. The two-legged will never hunt you, for your meat tastes like fire and smoke. The twoleggeds will never capture you, for your beautiful voice is now crackly and horsearo. The two-leggeds will never want your feathers because your rainbow colors are now black. But your black feathers will shine, and they will reflect all the colors on Earth. If you
013look closely, you will see. Then Crow looked and he saw hundreds of tiny rainbows shining in his black feathers, and he was content. So if you look really close, you can see the little rainbows on the crow's black feathers. So when the sun is hitting it, it looks like little rainbows hidden inside. The great spirit returned to his home in the distant sky, and the crow happily returned to his friends in the forest, proud that he was now a black crow with shining feathers full of tiny rainbows. So, do you see why we only see black crows today in the real world? We never see rainbow crows because he helped his friends in their time of need when there was so much snow and they were being buried. What do you think of that story?
014I hope you enjoyed it. Called Rainbow Crow. All right. And now I have another rainbow story and it's called How the Crayons Saved the Rainbow. Have you heard any of these? There's a lot of different stories about how the crayons saved different things. And this is one how they saved the rainbow. It's written by Monica Sweeney. She's the author who wrote the words and the illustrator is Ferona Parker Thomas. Let's find out what happens in the story about how the crayons saved the rainbow. And look at here. You can see how they were using crayons and drawing a rainbow. Maybe after our stories, you can get your crayons or markers and draw your own rainbows. The sun and the clouds were best friends. They worked together to keep the earth warm and gardens growing. But
015of all things they did together, their very favorite was making rainbows so that the whole world was colorful and happy. It's true. We need rain and sun to make rainbows. Then one day, the sun and the clouds had a big fight. The clouds were blocking the sun, and the sun couldn't shine through to the earth. The sun went sizzle, sizzle, sizzle at the clouds, and the clouds went slap, bang, boom, right back. They stopped being friends and were never in the sky together. Oh no, I wonder what's going to happen now. Will we see rainbows when the sun and clouds with the sun and the clouds far apart? It was scorching hot on some days and damp and cold on others. And worst of all, there were no more rainbows. Without rainbows, the flowers, streams,
016and even the cities started to lose their color. Soon the earth was black and white. Can you imagine your whole world just being black and white and all the colors gone? But in one little town, in one little school, in one little desk, there was one little forgotten box of crayons. And the crayons still had their colors. The desk rattled, shook, clamorred, and clanked. All of a sudden, it toppled over, and the box of crayons tumbled out. Now we can see some colors in the picture here, said the green crayon, said the blue crayon. Get off of me. I'm out of here. Woe is me. Hey, where are all the colors? They're noticing everything's black and white. The crayons started to search for the colors. They raided marker bins and tore through art projects, but
017everything as far as they could see was only black and white. Go away. This is sad. This is terrible. Daffodils and butter. Those are both yellow, aren't they? If oranges aren't orange, do I even exist? I'm concerned. What's going on? The crayons looked out the window. The sun was all the way to one side of the sky, looking very angry. And the clouds were way on the other side, looking very gloomy. Miss all the colors. can't even draw rainbows together now. Wait, that's it. We need to save the rainbows. Do you think the crayons can save the rainbows? So, the crayons started drawing little rainbows all over town and houses and buildings, but all over on the trees, the sidewalks, but nothing happened. The sun and the clouds didn't seem to even notice. What will
018it take to get them to notice the rainbows? We have to make our rainbows bigger, Violet said. Working together, the crayons drew and scribbled. This looks like a gigantic rainbow. It's so big. Goes right off the page. They made the biggest, brightest, most colorful rainbow the world had ever seen. Ever so slowly, the sun peered up and the clouds floated in for a closer look. The sun and the clouds both peered down, admiring the giant rainbow that the crowns that the crayons had drawn. Look at this giant rainbow goes over all the tall buildings. What bright colors, said the sun. It's incredible, said the clouds. They looked at each other with great big smiles. What do you think's going to happen? You think they're going to get together and start making rainbows again? And you
019see when I was talking earlier how rainbow looks like an upside down smile, doesn't it? and it cheers everybody. The sun said to the clouds, "Remember when we used to be together all the time and make rainbows?" The clouds nodded. "I'm sorry for going clap, bang, boom at you. I'm sorry for going sizzle, sizzle, sizzle at you," said the sun. Oh, looks like they're making up here. "It's better being friends," said the sun. And the clouds agreed. They hugged each other. The sun shined brightly and the clouds misted happily. Rain fell. Ever so slowly, rainbows reappeared near and far, turning the world colorful once again. And remember, we really do need in the real world for rainbows to occur. You need the sun and you need rain. Look at all the rainbows. Look at the
020crayons. Are they proud of themselves down there? Yes. And look at this. Together, they made a gigantic rainbow. And they both look happy in each of their corners here, don't they? I hope you enjoyed that story and how the rainbows say how the crayons saved the rainbow. And now if you want, I bet you could get some crayons and markers or whatever you have around your house and you can draw your own rainbow and hang them around the house to make it cheerful. And it's St. Patrick's Day. Do you know that our leprechaun, what does he look for to find his gold? He looks for a rainbow. And at the end of the rainbow, you go to the end of the rainbow. That supposedly is where the leprechaun's gold is hidden so we can find
021it. So, I hope you have a wonderful day. I can't wait to hear if you do some drawings of rainbows or painting them. and I hope they put a smile on your face when it's a cold, snowy day. So, thank you for coming and watching with us today on Calling All Kids. I hope to see you next time on Calling All Kids. This is Jennifer Temple saying bye-bye. Till next time. Thanks for watching. Bye bye.