Once, a long, long time ago, there lived a hunter. Every day, he went out and hunted animals. He hunted big ones and small ones and furry ones and slimy ones and any other kind you could imagine.
Soon he had collected every type of animal except one. He had never caught a bird. He made a special net and vowed to himself that the next time he hunted, he would catch a bird.
The next day, he searched hours and hours and finally heart a tweeting noise coming from inside a tree.
He looked inside a hole in the tree and, to his delight, there were seven different birds of seven different colors. There was a red one, an orange one, a yellow one, a green one, a blue ones, an indigo ones, and a violet one.
He was amazed and, being the experienced hunter he was, caught all seven birds with one swoop of his net. He took them home and trapped them in a cage until he could figure out what to do with them.
Little did the hunter know that these weren't just any birds. They were God's personal birds, and you could probably guess how angry He was.
He wanted His birds back, and the only way He could get them would be if the hunter would set them free so they could fly up to heaven.
God sent the hunter a message that if he didn't set the birds free, there would be a drought. He also said if the hunter set them free, he would be rewarded.
The hunter was a very stubborn man and replied, "A drought will not hurt me. I hunt for a living." So he kept the birds. Months went by and finally the hunter went to town to see if he could buy some sugar.
To his dismay, the markets were empty and there were starving people everywhere. No one could grow any crops. This made the hunter feel bad. He was stubborn, but wasn't heartless, so he decided to let the birds go.
The next day, he walked to the edge of the forest and let the birds go free. Then, all of a sudden, it started to rain. It rained and rained and rained and rained until the birds became a beautiful blur of color in the sky.
Then the rain stopped and so did the color. The hunter was amazed, because the birds stopped in the perfect shape of the bow he used for hunting.
He laughed to himself and decided that the design should be called a rainbow. Now every time it rains, a rainbow crosses the sky as a reminder of that hunter's generosity.

-By Jessica Cain, 11th grader at West Genesee High School, Camilllus, N.Y.