The Bull Who Painted with Lightning

High in the fluffy kingdom above the clouds lived Barnaby, a bull with fur the color of storm clouds and golden horns that glowed when he was happy. But Barnaby was lonely. The other cloud animals made fun of him. 'Bulls can't fly!' they giggled. 'And you're too heavy to be a cloud!'

One evening, Barnaby watched the children below splashing in their swimming pools. How he wished he could swim too! But clouds just floated, they never splashed.

Suddenly, a tingle zipped through his golden horns. SNAP! CRACK! A bolt of lightning danced from his left hoof, then another from his right. The lightning wasn't scary — it was beautiful, sparkling like glitter!

Barnaby had an idea. He galloped across the sky, and with every step, lightning shot from his hooves, painting glowing ripples and waves in the darkness. Lightning swirled into the shape of a giant swimming pool, shimmering with blue and purple light.

'I made a pool!' Barnaby gasped. But he couldn't swim in lightning — it would zap him!

Then the most wonderful thing happened. The lightning-ripples began to collect water from the rain clouds around him. Drop by drop, the pool filled with real, splashy, wonderful water!

Barnaby jumped in. SPLASH! He was swimming! His heavy body floated perfectly, and his storm-cloud fur soaked up the water until he was the happiest, soggiest bull in the sky.

Far below, children looked up in wonder. 'Mommy, look! A swimming bull in the sky!'

Barnaby waved his golden horns, sending tiny sparkles drifting down like magical snow. From that night on, whenever it stormed, children would search the sky for the swimming bull, dancing in his lightning-painted pool, proving that being different is the most wonderful gift of all.