THE CLOUD THAT
HAD NO LINING
THERE was once a cloud that had no lining. You have often, I dare say, heard grown-up people say that every cloud has a silver lining, and so you will understand that a cloud without a lining is a very uncommon thing.
The fairies who lived in the cloud found it very uncomfortable, because, you see, it let the rain come through.
"If only our cloud had a lining," they said, "the rain would not come through, and that would be very nice for us."
"We must really have it lined," said one.
"What with?" asked another.
"Why, with silver, of course," said a third. "Every one knows that a cloud ought to be lined with silver."
"But we have no silver!"
"Then we must get some. It is ridiculous to go on living in this state of dampness. Other fairies have comfortable clouds over their heads, and why should we be always drenched? And all for want of a simple silver lining!"
"Where does one find silver?" asked one of the fairies.
"There are a good many kinds of silver," said a fairy who had been about the world a great deal. "There is the kind that is dug out of the earth,—but that is a common kind of stuff, and no use for lining clouds with.
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