Long ago, when the world was new, all the birds were grey. They had no colours.

One bright spring day, the Great Bird, their king, called all the birds together. The birds gathered curiously. They hopped and flapped and chirped and chirruped and chattered amongst themselves. Why had the Great Bird called them together? What did he have to tell them?

The Great Bird looked around at the assembled birds, then pointed with one wing towards the sky. The other birds turned to look and gasped with astonishment – a giant rainbow shimmered in the sky. The birds had never seen anything so beautiful, and even the noisiest ones fell silent. They stared and stared at the rainbow as it glowed violet and indigo, blue and green, yellow, orange and red. ‘Oh, if only our feathers were as beautiful as the rainbow,’ cried the birds wistfully.

The Great Bird nodded his head and said, ‘I will give each of you one of the colours of the rainbow. Choose the colour you want, and it shall be yours.’

At once the birds began to push and shove, each trying to get ahead of the others so she could have her choice of colour first.

‘I want green, I’ll take green!’ screeched the parrot.

‘Red! Give me red!’ screamed the cardinal.

‘I want the blue!’ cried the jay.

‘Yellow for me, yellow for me,’ trilled the canary.

Only one little bird sat quietly, waiting for her turn. That little bird was the finch.

At last all the colours were taken. ‘Now each of you have a wonderful colour,’ said the Great Bird, ‘and just in time, for the rainbow has gone.’

But just then, the Great Bird saw the finch, sitting quietly in her corner. ‘Come here, little finch!’ cried the Great Bird. ‘Why didn’t you ask for a colour?’

‘I was waiting for my turn,’ said the finch.

‘But now all the colours are gone,’ said the Great Bird.

At this the finch looked very sad, and a great big tear rolled down her cheek. ‘Does this mean that I will always be grey?’ she sighed.

‘Always be grey because you would not push, and peck the others out of your way? Always be grey because you did not scream and shriek and were polite enough to wait your turn? No, indeed you shall not be grey!’  And the Great Bird called back all the other birds who were about to fly away with their glorious colours. He made them line up, and pass by him in order. From each bird he took a bit of colour – green from the parrot, red from the cardinal, blue from the jay, yellow from the canary, shimmering emerald from the peacock, delicate pink from the flamingo – and he gave all these bits of colour to the finch.

And when he was done, the little finch shone with all the colours of the rainbow! There they were, all the colours, beautifully blended into her feathers. The other birds gathered round in admiration, and declared the little finch who had waited her turn the prettiest bird of all!