Rainbow Brite Saves
Spring
By Dorothy Eyre
At the very end of the rainbow, where some people say that pots of
gold are found, there is a wonderful place called Rainbow Land.
Gold or not, one thing is certain. Rainbow Land is the place where
colors are born...and it's the home of Rainbow Brite!
Rainbow Brite is a lovable little girl who brings color and
happiness to the world with her magic Star Sprinkles. Without her,
the world would be a dull, gloomy, not-at-all-fun place to be. The
Star Sprinkles come in the seven colors of the rainbow. They make
grass green and the sky blue and roses red. It's quite a trick to
make sure that everything comes out right, but Rainbow Brite manages
to do the job perfectly every day. Of course, making sure the entire
world is filled with new colors every day is a big job. And even a
smart, hard-working girl like Rainbow can't dig and sort out the
colors by herself. So she has many friends who help her.
Besides the Color Kids, the busiest of Rainbow's helpers are the
little sprites. They are the friendly, furry workers who dig in the
color mines all day. The sprites collect wheelbarrows full of the
brightest color crystals to make into Star Sprinkles.
Right in the heart of Rainbow Land stands the Color Castle where
Rainbow Brite and the Color Kids live. The castle is decorated with
star-shaped windows and rainbow-arched doorways through which
sunbeams glimmer and dance. It is a happy and magical place.
But just outside Rainbow Land on a gray and gloomy hill stands The
Pits. There is nothing happy or wonderful about this place. Dark
threatening clouds and smoglike smoke loom over the colorless land.
Only two people in the world would want to live in The Pits--Murky
Dismal and his bumbling
assistant, Lurky.
Deep
in The Pits, Murky Dismal added a pinch of midnight to a big
evil-smelling pot. "Now stir that up good, Lurky. Just think, with
this potion I'll be able to keep Rainbow Brite and her goody-goody
friends from putting more color in the world. Soon everything will
be gray and gloomy, and everyone will be as miserable as I am!"
"That's right, Murky. You're the miserablist!"
One morning, Rainbow Brite gathered the Color Kids together to make
an important announcement. "Today is the first day of Spring, and
we have lots of work to do. If we don't color everything as
brightly as possible, Spring won't arrive! Winter will go on
forever! Are you ready to get started?"
All
the Color Kids shouted their agreement! Rainbow grinned. "Great!
Then the first thing we need to do is visit Rainbow Falls to pick up
all the Star Sprinkles we can carry!"
Patty O'Green was so eager to get started, she danced a little jig.
"Well, I'll be needing lots of green Star Sprinkles to brighten the
new grass and leaves."
Buddy
Blue pretended he was swimming through one of the lakes he would
soon touch up with his blue Star Sprinkles.
This
made Canary Yellow laugh. "Don't forget about the yellow Star
Sprinkles for the daffodils!"
"And
red Star Sprinkles for the tulips!" shouted Red Butler.
"Come
on, I'll race you to Rainbow Falls!" But Shy Violet and Indigo
already had a headstart. So Red jogged alongside Lala Orange.
At the Falls, they found heaps of Star Sprinkles everywhere.
Rainbow dodged a sprite pushing an overloaded cart. "The sprites
are working so hard, I'm sure Spring will come on time!"
Twink,
Rainbow's favorite sprite, scurried here and there giving
orders. "Faster, faster! Spring is almost here!"
Rainbow's magnificent flying horse, Starlite, trotted into the Color
Caves to see how hard everyone was working. He nodded his colorful
mane in approval.
Suddenly, Starlite perked up his ears at a distant noise. Red
Butler heard it, too, and pointed to the bumpy narrow road that lead
down from The Pits. "I'd know that rackety sound anywhere! It's
that awful Grunge Buggy!" A second later, Murky's filthy car shot
over the hill huffing and puffing great
clouds of nasty smoke.
As he rode by the surprised sprites, Murky sprayed them with his
awful potion. "Steer over that way, Lurky. We missed a few! Hah!
This will ruin Spring once and for all!"
Lurky
glanced at the sprites and laugh. "Hey, Murky, that potion's
putting a gray cloud over their heads! It's making them so gloomy,
they've stopped working!"
Rainbow Brite pointed an accusing finger at Murky and Lurky. "Stop
those two! They're trying to ruin the first day of Spring!"
But
because of Murky's potion, the gloomy sprites just stood there, all
"murked out."
Rainbow grabbed a handful of Star Sprinkles and jumped on Starlite's
back. "Come on! Let's go get Murky and Lurky!"
Quick
as a flash, Starlite took to the sky. In a moment he caught up with
the wicked pair and swooped down on them, as Rainbow tossed Star
Sprinkles in their path!
Murky tried to duck his head. "Steer that way, you fool!"
"Duh,
which way?" Lurky turned the wheel and drove right into the Star
Sprinkles. In an instant, Lurky began to smile. Then he giggled.
Then he stopped the Buggy! "Boy, do I feel good!"
Murky
Dismal shook his fist at Lurky. "Don't stop, you oaf!"
But
Lurky just sat there smiling at Rainbow Land. "You know, I never
noticed what a nice view this is from here."
Then
the Star Sprinkles began to affect Murky. "Oh, no! All these
colors are making me feel happy. It's sickening! Move over, Lurky.
I'm going to drive us out of here!" Then he roared off for The Pits
as fast as he could go.
Rainbow watched as the wind blew all the gloom and smoke away.
"Thank goodness Murky Dismal and his potion are gone. Now we can
get Spring back on schedule!"
Twink
jumped up and down, calling to his fellow sprites. "Come on,
everyone, get un-murked! We've got work to do!" Then Rainbow Brite,
the Color Kids and all the sprites hurried off to make
the first day of Spring the happiest, brightest day ever! |
