The Cloud & The Mountain
The mountain stood as the king of the land: tall, lush, and unshakable. Nothing in all creation could move it. Animals sought refuge at its foot, and birds nested upon its peak. Everything admired the mountain, even Cirrus the cloud, who secretly wished that he could be a mountain too.
But Cirrus could never be a mountain. He was a cloud. Sometimes wispy, sometimes fluffy, and often barely there. At times he looked like bread; at others, like a tree or even a river. He moved wherever the wind carried him, never able to stay still. How he envied the mountain’s unyielding strength and permanence! Oh, how he longed to be steadfast and grand like it.
One day, however, the sun grew fiercer, shining hotter than ever before. The once-vibrant trees turned brittle and brown, and streams and rivers began to dry up. Grass withered, flowers wilted, and vegetables bore no fruit. Cirrus watched it all unfold, feeling heavier and grayer with each passing day. The mountain, though parched and scorched, remained immovable, and Cirrus couldn’t help but feel insignificant in comparison.
“I wish I were important,” he sighed one particularly heavy and gray day. “I wish I could be like the mountain, strong and vital.”
The sun blazed on, and Cirrus grew so full of his own weight that he couldn’t take it anymore. Then, to his surprise, something incredible happened. He began to cry. Not from sadness, but in a literal downpour. Water poured from him, soaking the dry, cracked earth below. “Wait, what’s happening to me?” Cirrus wondered aloud.
The more he poured, the lighter he felt, and soon his sadness washed away along with the drought. Over days and weeks, the land transformed. Greenery returned, streams trickled once more, and the animals and people rejoiced. They looked up and called his gift “rain.”
“Rain?” Cirrus thought, marvelling at himself. “I may not be tall or unyielding like the mountain, but I can rain!” He realized that his formlessness allowed him to hold water, and the wind carried him so he could bring life wherever it was needed.
Seeing the land bloom anew, Cirrus finally embraced his unique purpose. “I’m not a mountain,” he said with a smile, “but I’m valuable just the way I am.”