Before humans roamed the earth, there was a compact patch of trees nestled in an undisturbed valley. Straight through the valley flowed a clear river stream with perfectly formed rock stepping stones that were scattered from bank to bank. Mountains towered over the valley on either side, allowing for minimal sunlight to touch the bottom of the tiny ravine. These slender mountain cliffs had run off water streams from glaciers that fed into the one central brook below. Above this small slice of paradise far up in the sky lived three floating kingdoms. All were completely separated from one another and unaware of the vast uninhabited oasis underneath them. Though they could obviously see they had company that lived nearby, they wanted absolutely nothing to do with one another. On each island, they all produced their own sacred mark of color that consumed their lives. Their skin, houses, and world were all painted in their one unique hue. But after having these colors for the vein of their existence, the people grew bored of it and knew nothing else other than it. The first kingdom’s color was a vibrant red. The second kingdom’s color was a potent orange, and the last kingdom’s color was a golden yellow. Each kingdom had their own family usually consisting of tens of brothers, only one sister, one strong chief who kept them grounded, and his wife. On these islands, the climate was rock and dust, and no life essentially grew on them except for the families. All kingdoms functioned and looked the same, deserted and bland.
One day, the Orange Kingdom’s chief’s daughter had a dream that there was an unimaginable flourishing world underneath them. They were so deprived of change they were desperate to see something new. So, without thinking twice, the Chief of the Orange sent down two sons into the unknown. While the men descended from the only life they knew, their fall down left a trail of bright orange dust behind them that littered the dark sky. The Orange Kingdom’s neighbors immediately saw the bright cloud, which sparked a discussion among themselves trying to figure out why the Orange Kingdom decided to leave now. Out of curiosity they kept watch all day and night to see if the Orange Nation would ever return from the never ending abyss. When the men touched down on to the unfamiliar ground, they were in complete disbelief. It was a fresh breath of air for all of them to see a completely different landscape other than their stale overworld. The group of men landed right on top of the valley edge. As they peered over the ledge they had only one thought, which was to go explore this new found heaven. They followed the run off water down into the valley where they made their first discovery. None of them had ever seen the green fluffy blobs on brown sticks. They had nothing of the sort back on their land. The brothers investigated the newly discovered trees further, ripping the leaves off and even eating one. The men also observed small holes that scattered the ground, but they didn’t understand what caused them. After spending days rampaging around, making sure to feel and see everything that hid in the valley, the brothers finally decided they were ready to return back to their dull world. The men shot back into the air eager to share their new findings. When they arrived, they described to the rest of the family the most exquisite world which was hard for them to imagine. The family all concluded they needed to have a look for themselves. If there is one thing all of them definitely knew about their new treasure is it needed to be protected and kept a secret from the other kingdoms.
The next morning, one by one, the brothers, chief, and daughter fell from their world. The wife stayed back just in case the other kingdoms tried to pull something. The kingdoms at watch saw the orange dust cloud span across the vacant sky. The other nations took no chance and jumped after them, spiraling down to see where they continued to visit. The black sky exploded with a vibrant sunset of red, orange, and yellow racing to touch down first. Orange smashed into the ground, then red followed by yellow. All nations froze as one, collectively taken back by the unbelievable terrain. It took only one color thrown to unfreeze this monumental moment where at last the nations were united. All colors began to try to claim this new land. They did this the only way they knew which was through color. Each nation splattered their color on any tree they could see. Every green tree became invisible by the amount of color caked on to it.
After hours of the kingdoms trying to cover up the other one’s color, the Great Battle of Color was interrupted by the squeakiest voice. All families immediately stopped and turned around to find a mouse emerging from one of the small holes in the ground. The mouse ordered with all his might,” This land doesn’t belong to any of you, this is ours! We were here first! Leave at once!”
All the command and power the mouse had made the gods rethink their actions. The kingdoms decided it was unjust to parade around ruining someone else’s world. They wanted to make things right with the mice. The families tried to clean up the destruction they had caused, but the colors wouldn’t budge off the leaves.
The families went back to their bland little lives never to take what isn’t theirs again. Back down on earth, the colors eventually faded and the leaves fell off the trees. Now every year around the same time, the leaves grow into their beautiful colors. This time of year is called autumn when the mice remember what they had fought to keep. Though the mice were furious about their beloved trees, they soon came to cherish the contrast of the busy colors against the neutral landscape every autumn season.
