Lesson objective:
to describe and sequence
key incidents in a variety of
ways
how words change when –er,
-est and –y are added
The Birth of the
Rainbow
An Indian
Myth
Long, long ago when the Earth was
very young, Indra the god of thunder,
lightning and rain called his carpenter to
him.
“My big hunting bow is broken,” he said. “I
want a bigger bow. Make me the biggest
bow in the world.”
So the carpenter set to work. When he
had finished Indra called his artist,
Vishvakarma to him.
“Paint my bow with colours that have
never before been known in the
kingdom of the gods,” he commanded.
So Vishvakarma came down to
Earth to find new colours. Then he
began to paint the bow in stripes.
The first stripe he painted violet
like the top of the Himalayan
mountains at dawn.
The second stripe
he painted indigo
like the dye from
the indigo plant.
The third stripe
he painted blue,
like the neck of
a peacock.
The fourth
stripe he painted
green, like the
unripe mango.
The fifth stripe
he painted yellow,
like the fur of a
newly born tiger.
The sixth stripe
he painted orange,
like the stain of
the juice of the
mendhi plant.
The seventh and
last stripe he
painted red, like the
flowers of the
Ashoka tree in
summer.
Vishvakarma was very happy.
He hung the bow to dry in
the sunshine. But the sun
was too hot and the wood
began to crack. Vishvakarma
begged Indra to send rain to
wet the bow and he let the
rain fall gently.
All the children looked up at the
bow in the sky. “Look at the rain
bow,” they said, with joy.
Vishvakarma told Indra. “Please
dry your bow like this every time
you use it. The best weather is
when the sun is shining through a
little rain. Then the colours in your
bow will remain bright forever.”
So every time Indra dries his
bow, a rainbow appears in the sky.