There once lived in the land of clouds a family of Crumpets. Each member of the Crumpets family had a special talent and was responsible for a certain chore every day.
Papa Crumpets was in charge of harvesting and storing all the different natural dyes in the universe that make up beautiful colors for the clouds.
Mama Crumpets chore was to harvest threads that floated throughout the sky. She would weave them into sound compartments to sleep in at night. This was very important because the clouds shifted during the night and the family rarely woke up in the same location the next morning.
Blue Boy and his brother and sister all had important chores, too. Their chores were to skate and dance around in order to spread the colors.
If anyone from the land below could see the children in the clouds it might appear that the only thing they ever did was play and have fun. The children did have fun, but that was not their only mission. Without their work, the skies would never be blue or have beautiful pink colors at sunset, or even dark clouds on a rainy day.
But no one from the land below could ever see the Crumpets. They were just too far away.
The Crumpets had magical powers. They could not only see the people on the land below, they could also hear them. Blue Boy loved looking at the people on the land below, especially the children.
He would watch them playing outside, and sometimes, when the snowflakes came, they would skate across the ground in sleds similar to the kind he used to spread the colors. Or they might roll the snowflakes up into a ball and toss it at the other children, or their parents.
One day Blue Boy’s cousin happened to land on the same cloud Blue Boy was on at the time. Together, they watched the little people on the land below. “Oh, how I wish I could go there,” said Blue Boy.
Blue Boy’s cousin leaned in close and whispered in his ear. “I’ll tell you a secret. You can go to the land below.”
“Oh, no” said Blue Boy. “The land below is so far away. I would surely die if I jumped off the clouds.”
“Yes, but you can hitch a ride down on the snowflakes,” his cousin said. “They’re supposed to come tonight, you know.”
Blue Boy was not at all convinced. “I would starve to death without food.”
“Silly Blue Boy,” his cousin replied. “You will not starve to death. There’s plenty of food on the land below.”
Blue Boy was still leery. “How could I ever get back? The snowflakes only fall downwards, not upwards.”
“There’s a way,” his cousin promised. “You’ll see when you get to the land below, if you dare to go.”
Blue Boy was so excited that he had trouble going to sleep that night. He laid awake thinking about his exciting journey. He was afraid, but his curiosity about the land below was much greater than his fear.
Finally, after his family was soundly sleeping, he quietly slipped out of his pouch, opened the latch on the cocoon and looked out onto a star-filled moonlit night.
Blue Boy could see the snowflakes swirling around him. He took a deep breath, waved his family a kiss, and making sure to close the latch behind him he jumped out onto the nearest one.
Down he went, tumbling and tumbling through the sky, landing on one snowflake after the other, only to have them melt. He closed his eyes and waited for his demise. He was so sure he was about to die. And then he landed on the perfect snowflake that carried him ever so softly to the land below.
The first thing Blue Boy saw when he opened his eyes was a strange-looking house, much stranger than the cocoon he slept in at night. After testing out his legs, he began to move forward. He stopped in his tracks when he spied something that startled him so bad he was afraid to move. There, in the snow, was a black and white creature adorned with a red scarf and a red hat.
It was looking at Blue Boy as if he might be something good to eat. He stepped back, retracing his steps, until he bumped into something.
Fearing for his life, Blue Boy whirled around and saw a tiny man with pointed ears and a pointed hat, carrying a brightly colored box with a bow on top.