There once lived in a rippling river a Drop of cool, clear Water. It had a great many brothers and sisters, for the whole river was made up of Drops of Water like itself; and they used to have merry times, dancing and singing and sparkling along through the green fields, watering the grass and flowers, and making everything fresh and beautiful.
 
One bright Spring morning, after the heat of the sun and the warm April breezes had melted the ice from the banks of the stream, a Sunbeam came dancing out of the sky and lighted right in the middle of the river. As soon as it lighted, all the Drops of Water began laughing and clapping their tiny hands for joy, for the Sunbeams were so bright and happy that all the little Water Drops liked to have them come and play with them.
 
So for a long time they danced and played together very merrily. As the day grew warmer and the great sun rose higher and higher in the sky, the little Sunbeam knew it was time for her to fly away, so she told the little Drop of Water, who had been very busy and kind to its playmates during the morning, that she wanted a little Drop of Water to go away up into the sky with her, for the Gardener who took care of the earth and the flowers wanted some Drops of Water to help Him.
 
The little Drop was very happy at the thought of going away to the bright blue sky with the Sunbeam, so it bade all its friends good-by, and the Sunbeam took it gently in its arms. Away they flew, up, up, up, past the green fields, over the trees and above the church spires, up so high that the little Water Drop thought they must be going straight up to the sun where the Sunbeam lived.
 
After they had traveled on and on for a long time, the little Drop of Water grew so tired and sleepy that its little eyes shut tighter and tighter, till at last it was fast asleep.
 
How long it slept it never knew, but when it awoke it was lying on such a beautiful white, fleecy cloud up in the blue sky, that for a moment it thought it was dreaming.
 
But soon it heard many little voices and a great rushing and laughing, and on looking it saw a whole band of sparkling Water Drops, like itself, hurrying somewhere in a cloud much darker than the one it was on, and as it came nearer they all cried with happy voices,
"Oh! Come with us, little Water Drop, we are having such a nice time."
So the little Water Drop gave a jump when the cloud came near, and was soon in the carriage with the others, which it thought was just the nicest kind of a carriage it had ever heard of-for the carriage was made of a soft, dark cloud, and they had the wind for a horse, and away they went, faster and faster, through the sky, laughing and singing all the way, till all of a sudden they stopped quite near the earth, over a beautiful garden.
 
"Oh, let's jump out," they all cried, as they heard the Birds singing, and saw the Flowers nodding and beckoning for them to come down; so they all began to jump from the cloud; first they went slowly, but soon they went faster and faster, and as they fell they said, "Patter! Patter!" which meant, "How do you do, little flowers and grasses! We have come to give you a drink of water."
 
Well, some of them jumped into lily cups, and some fell among rose-leaves, and some ran away into the ground as fast as they could go. But the Drop which came from the river lay for a moment on the ground, not knowing just where to go. But soon it heard, way down in the ground, a weak voice saying, "I've pushed, and I've pushed, and I've pushed, but the earth is so dry, I can't get up."
 
Then the Drop of Water put its little ear down to the earth and listened, and put its little eye down to the earth and peeped, and then put its little mouth down to the earth and called, just as loudly as it could,
"What's the matter, little Blade of Grass?"
A tiny voice answered,
"There is no one to give me a drink of water, and I am warm and tired, and I cannot push the earth away and get up to the sunlight."
 
So the Drop of Water began giving the Earth a drink and the Earth began to grow moist and to give the Blade of Grass a drink and the Blade of Grass began to lift its tender head slowly, until at last it pushed the earth away and jumped up into the sunlight.
 
Then the Drop of Water went down into a dark crack in the ground, for it wanted to help other grass blades or seeds to grow, and it rolled on and on, all the time giving so cheerfully that wherever it went it made everything happy.
 
At last it found, away down under the ground, a great many Drops of Water that were hurrying toward the sea; so they traveled on together many days, growing larger and larger as other drops joined them, till they again reached the sunshine and became a great river, flowing by large cities, turning mill-wheels and carrying ships safely onward.
 
After a very long journey, they entered the ocean, where the little Drop of Water found all the brothers and sisters it had left way back among the green fields before it went into the sky with the Sunbeam, for they too had been busy all the time in giving to make others happy.
 
They were so glad to meet again that they all had a very merry time; and they danced and sang until the sun set and the stars came out to tell the Drops of Water, as they do the little children, that it was time to go to sleep; so they wrapped their arms around each other, put on their white nightcaps and were soon far away in dreamland.

I am so very excited to introduce Rahima Baldwin Dancy in this one-on-one interview with Little Acorn Learning. Rahima is a pioneer in the Waldorf Educational movement in the United States and such an inspiration to me as well as many other mothers, fathers and teachers.

 

Read the interview >HERE<