THE RAINBOW BRIDGE

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1061, 27 August 1930, Page 14

THE RAINBOW BRIDGE

The Sun God was furious. Day after day, week after week, the Storm God had reigned supreme, until now the earth was ravaged and flooded, with great trees torn to the ground. Day after day the lightning imps sported across tlio sky, while the Storm God, delighted ' with their display, laughed gruffly, and mortals remarked gloomily, “How loud is the thunder!”

Several times the Sun God had attempted to reassert his right in the sky, but always he had been driven back by the force of storm and hurricane. Now he sat at the window of his palace, watching the leaves, torn and muddy; the flowers, broken and limp; and the little children who sat with unhappy faces pressed against the windows, seeking in vain for some cessation in the rain. No wonder, then, that the Sun God grew furious. Snatching his golden horn from the wall, he blew a blast which echoed and re-echoed throughout the palace and brought his golden-clad servants hurrying to his side. “Beat* this message to the Storm God,” ordered the Sun God, l'rowningly. “I command him to recall his servants of storm to his side!” Willingly the messengers hurried away, but they returned, trembling, in a very short time. “Alas!” they sighed, “the Storm God only laughed at your command!” Now the palace shook with the wrath of tho Sun God. “Then tell him this.” ho roared. “Unless he withdraws his grey army from the sky by evenfall, I challenge him to meet me in combat!”

Again the messengers hastened to obey; again they returned in a little while, and came flying to the Sun God in fear and panic. “Wo boro your message,” they cried.

i“And look! He already comes! Thol Storm God comes to accept your chal- ‘ lease!" ‘ The Sun God looked. From the: Storm God's palace, in one corner of the heavens, to his own, in the other, had been flung an arched bridge, and across it came the hated Storm God. With a mighty shout the Sun God went forward and, brandishing his huge golden sword, strode across the bridge to meet his enemy. As they advanced toward each other, one part of the sky was illumined with sunshine, the other part still hidden in grey clouds. The combatants met in the middle or the arch and, lifting their swords, rushed to the attack. The blades met with a great clang, and a blinding shower of coloured sparks resulted from the impact. As these sparks floated down, they settled and clung to the sides of the arched bridge. and it glimmered and shone with a. hundred colours. And behold! The swords of the fighters had both been snapped at the hilt! . . . Above them the tace of the Sky God looked out. and the two quailed before him. “Foolish ones!” reproved the Sky God sternly. “How dared you fight in my domain? It must not occur any more, and henceforth I shall be the judge of your periods of reign. This beautiful bridge I shall keep and. whenever you feel tempted to war, one against the other. I shall fling it across the sky, from palace to palace, to remind you of my words, and so that you may walk out and meet in peace." This is why you will often see a rainbow shining against a background of sunny sky and sullen clouds. ——Ped Star (Jean Mclndoe). ENGLAND No lovelier hills than thine have laid My tired thoughts to rest: No peace of lovelier valleys made Like peace within my breast. Thine are the woods whereto my soul, Out of the noontide beam, Flees for a. refuge green and cool And tranquil as a, dream. Thy breaking seas like trumpets peal; Thy clouds—how oft have I Watched their bright towers of silence steal Into infinity! My heart within me faints to roam In thoughts e'en far from thee: Thine be the grave whereto I come, And thine my darkness be. ~Walter de la Mare. THE SEA Five-sevenths of the earth‘s surface is covered by the sea. The total volume of water is uncertain. Estimates vary between 12 and 500 cubic miles. In parts of the Atlantic it is 40,000 ft deep; in the English Channel it is only a few hundred feet deep. Plant life exists only to a. depth of 700 ft, but animal life is abundant even in the lowest depths. Seeds vary greatly in vitality. Some seeds, such as the seeds of some species of willows, lose capacity for growth in a few days, whereas seeds \of the Indian lotus which had been i buried in peat, probably for-more than ‘2OO years. were found to grow after ‘their husks had been softened by ‘treatment with sulphuric acid. : In 1902 seeds of 107 species of plants were buried at various depths, and 20 years later the seeds of 51 of the species were found capable of ger—mination, while geranium seeds nearly 50 years old have produced plants. .__—_ 1 THE BUSINESS MAN 1 —‘ l Little Jack went into a shop to spend his first penny. He rather fancied some chocolates. “How many of those can I have for a penny, please?" he asked. “Only two or three, sonny," replied the shopman “I’ll have three, please," was Jack's request. MASS PRODUCTION N Prizes offered by the editor of a French farming newspaper for the best tuft of cars of corn from a single seed. the best beetroot, and the best potato, have been given for a tuftproducing 72 cars of corn with 2,504 grains, weighing 4 ounces. 3. beetroot weighing slightly over 30 pounds, and a potato ‘weighing well over two pounds.