Once upon a time, high above the world, lived a fluffy cloud named Claude. But Claude wasn’t a happy cloud. He was a grumpy cloud. He always had a pouty face and loved to rain, rain, rain on everyone below.
“Hmph!” Claude would grumble. “Look at them, all having fun! I’ll show them!” And he would squeeze out a big, gray raincloud, making everyone run for cover.
The flowers drooped, the squirrels scurried away, and even the sun hid behind the mountains. All because of Claude’s grumpy rain.
One day, a tiny little bird, with feathers the color of sunshine, flew right up to Claude. “Hello, Mr. Cloud!” chirped the bird. “Why are you always so grumpy?”
Claude huffed. “Because! It’s much more fun to rain on everything! They’re not enjoying, then its more fun!”
The little bird tilted its head. “But Mr. Cloud, have you ever tried sharing sunshine?”
Claude frowned. “Sunshine? Me? Never!”
The bird giggled. “Just try it! It’s really nice!”
So, Claude, just to be polite (and a little bit curious), peeked out from behind his gray cloud. He let a tiny sliver of sunshine peek through.
Below, a little girl stopped and smiled. She was holding a bright red umbrella, but she lowered it and laughed as a sunbeam warmed her face. A bee buzzed happily around a flower. A squirrel peeked out from its tree.
Claude felt a strange tingle inside him. It wasn’t grumpy or pouty. It felt…nice!
He let a little more sunshine through. And then a little more. Soon, a whole patch of sunshine was warming the ground below. The flowers lifted their heads, the squirrels chattered happily, and the little girl danced in the sunbeam.
Claude felt a warm feeling spread all through him. He started to giggle. And then he started to laugh! A big, booming, happy laugh.
And as he laughed, the rain stopped. The gray cloud disappeared. And Claude turned into a big, fluffy, white cloud, shining with sunshine.
“It’s so much fun!” he boomed, in a happy, friendly voice. “Sharing sunshine is much better than raining on everyone!”
From that day on, Claude the Cloud wasn’t grumpy anymore. He shared sunshine with everyone, and he always had a big, fluffy smile on his face. And he learned that when you are kind, everyone smiles.
