Pippa and the Cotton-Candy Cloud

In the floating village of Windlow, perched among soft white clouds, lived a cheerful girl named Pippa whose job was to sweep stray clouds into neat piles so the evening sun could paint the sky in gold and rose. Every day she flew on her feather-broom, humming softly as she worked.

One evening, Pippa found the fluffiest cloud she had ever seen — pink and sweet as cotton candy, glowing faintly at its edges. Instead of sweeping it into the sky pile, she tucked it under her bed, thinking, "This one is too pretty to share. I'll keep it just for me."

The next evening, the villagers gathered on their balconies, waiting for the sunset — but the sky stayed pale and gray, with no rosy glow at all. "Where did all the color go?" they wondered, and little ones sighed because bedtime stories always began with a colorful sky.

Pippa peeked out her window and felt a small, heavy feeling in her chest. She pulled the pink cloud from under her bed and let it drift up into the sky. At once, the cloud burst open like a blossom, spilling soft pink and gold light across every rooftop in Windlow, and everyone gasped with joy.

Watching her neighbors smile and wave up at the glowing sky, Pippa realized the cloud had been far more beautiful shared than hidden away. From then on, she always saved the prettiest clouds for everyone to see, and Windlow's sunsets became the loveliest in all the sky.