The Last Slice of Rainbow

#####The Last Slice of Rainbow

Jason walked home from school every day along the side of a steep grassy valley, where harebells grew and sheep nibbled. As he walked, he always whistled.

Jason could whistle more tunes than anybody else at school, and he could remember every tune he had ever heard. That was because he had been born in a windmill, just at the moment when the wind changed from south to west. He could see the wind, as it blew and that is a thing not many people can do.

One day, as Jason walked home along the grassy path, he heard the west wind wailing and sighing. “Oh, woe, woe! Oh, bother and blow! I’ve forgotten how it goes!”

“What have you forgotten, Wind?” asked Jason, turning to look at the wind. It was all brown and blue and wavery, with splashes of gold.

“My tune! My favourite tune.” “The one that goes like this?” said Jason, and he whistled.

The wind was delighted. “That’s it! That’s the one! Clever Jason!” And it flipped about him, teasing but kindly, turning up his collar, ruffling his hair.

“I’ll give you a present,” it sang to the tune Jason had whistled. “What shall it be? A golden lock and a silver key?”

Jason could not think what use those things would be, so he said quickly, “Oh, please, what I would like would be a rainbow of my very own to keep.

” For in the grassy valley, there were often beautiful rainbows to be seen, but they never lasted long enough for Jason.

“A rainbow of your own? That’s a hard one,” said the wind. “A very hard one. You must take a pail and walk up over the moor till you come to Peacock Force. Catch a whole pailful of spray. That will take a long time. But when you have the pail full to the brim, you may find something in it that might give you a rainbow.”

Luckily the next day was Saturday. Jason took a pail, and his lunch, and walked over the moor to the waterfall that was called Peacock Force—because the water, as it dashed over the cliff, made a cloud of spray in which wonderful peacock colours shone and glimmered.

All day Jason stood by the fall, getting soaked, catching the spray in his pail. At last, just at sunset, he had the whole pail filled up, right to the brim. And now, in the pail, he saw something that swam swiftly round and round—something that glimmered in brilliant rainbow colours.

It was a small fish. “Who are you?” said Jason. “I am the Genius of the waterfall. Put me back and I’ll reward you with a gift.” “Yes,” said Jason. “Yes, I’ll put you back, and please may I have a rainbow of my very own, to keep in my pocket?” “Humph!” said the Genius. “I’ll give you a rainbow, but rainbows are not easy to keep. I’ll be surprised if you can even carry it home. Still, here you are.” And the Genius leapt out of Jason’s pail, in a high soaring leap, back into its waterfall, and, as it did so, a rainbow poured out of the spray and into Jason’s pail.

“Oh, how beautiful!” And Jason took the rainbow, holding it in his two hands like a scarf, and gazed at its dazzling colours. He rolled it up carefully, and put it in his pocket. Then he started walking home.

There was a wood on his way, and in a dark place among the trees he heard somebody crying pitifully. He went to see what it was and found a badger in a trap.

“Boy, dear boy,” groaned the badger. “Let me out, or men will come with dogs and kill me.”

“How can I let you out? I’d be glad to, but the trap needs a key.” “Push in the end of that rainbow I see in your pocket. You’ll be able to wedge open the trap.”

Sure enough, when Jason pushed the end of the rainbow between the jaws of the trap, they sprang open, and the badger was able to clamber out.

“Thanks, thanks,” he gasped, and then he was gone down his hole.

Jason rolled up the rainbow and put it back in his pocket. But a large piece had been torn off by the sharp teeth of the trap, and it blew away.

On the edge of the wood was a little house where old Mrs Scagell lived. She had a very sour nature. If children’s balls bounced into her garden, she baked them in her oven until they turned to coal. And everything she ate was black-burnt toast, black tea, black olives. She called to Jason, “Boy, will you give me a bit of that rainbow I see sticking out of your pocket? I’m very ill. The doctor says I need a rainbow pudding to make me better.”

Jason did not much want to give Mrs Scagell a bit of his rainbow, but she did look ill. So, rather slowly, he went into her kitchen, where she cut off a large bit of the rainbow with a breadknife. Then she made a stiff batter with hot milk and flour, stirred in the piece of rainbow, and cooked it.

She let it get cold and cut it into slices and ate them with butter and sugar. Jason had a small slice too. It was delicious.

“That’s the best thing I’ve eaten for a year,” said Mrs Scagell. “I’m tired of black bread. I can feel this pudding doing me good.”

She did look better. Her cheeks were pink and she almost smiled. As for Jason, after he had eaten his small slice of pudding he grew three inches.

“You’d better not have any more,” said Mrs Scagell.

Jason put the last piece of rainbow in his pocket.

There was not a lot left now.

As he drew near the windmill where he lived, his sister Tilly ran out to meet him. She tripped over a rock and fell, gashing her leg. Blood poured out of it, and Tilly, who was only four, began to wail. “Oh, my leg! It hurts dreadfully! Oh Jason, please bandage it, please!”

Well, what could he do? Jason pulled the rest of the rainbow from his pocket and wrapped it round Tilly’s leg. There was just enough. He tore off a tiny scrap, which he kept in his hand.

Tilly was in rapture with the rainbow round her leg. “Oh! How beautiful! And it’s stopped the bleeding!” She danced away to show everybody.

Jason was left looking rather glumly at the tiny shred of rainbow between his thumb and finger. He heard a whisper in his ear and turned to see the west wind frolicking, all yellow and brown and I rose-coloured.

“Well?” said the west wind. “The Genius of the waterfall did warn you that rainbows are hard to keep! And even without a rainbow, you are a very lucky boy. You can hear my song, and you have grown three inches in one day.”

“That’s true,” said Jason.

“Hold out your hand,” said the wind. Jason held out his hand, with the piece of rainbow in it, and the wind blew as you blow on a fire to make it burn bright. As it blew, the piece of rainbow grew and grew, until it lifted up, arching into the topmost corner of the sky. Not just a single rainbow, but a double one, with a second rainbow underneath that, the biggest and most brilliant that Jason had ever beheld.

Many birds were so astonished at the sight that they stopped flying and fell, or collided with each other in mid-air.

Then the rainbow melted and was gone.

“Never mind!” said the west wind. “There will be another rainbow tomorrow. And if not tomorrow, next week.”

“And I did have it in my pocket,” said Jason. And he went inside for his tea.