Hello, this is Alan, your storyteller, welcoming you to the story home, with a rare and beautiful

folk tale from Belgium, the tells of the world long ago in which everything was gray.

But one day, a miracle appeared that changed everything.

It's a story of politeness and generosity you're sure to enjoy.

Now let us listen to How the Finch Got Her Colors,

adapted and read by Alan Schofield.

A very long time ago,

when the story of the world was just beginning.

There were only a few people on earth,

but far above, up in the clouds, there were many, many birds flying

through the air and coming down to perch on the limbs of countless trees, just as they do now.

But alas, there were very few colors then.

There were no bright blue feathers on the Blue Jays' wings,

nor was there any bright orange coloring on the Orioles.

For all the birds in that faraway world were of the same color, a kind of dullish gray, like the

damp mist that rises from the lakes. Now the birds of these early times did not notice

or even mind the dullness of their gray plumage, for they had never seen or even imagined

the rich colors they later decorated the earth. And so they were content that everything in

their world was perfect, and that their feathers would always be gray.

Then one day, the morning dawned and a wonderful thing happened. Above the earth,

in a bright, clean, rain-washed sky, a beautiful rainbow appeared over the lands.

The rainbow made the sky glow with color.

...