BORROWED GRANDEUR

It was evening. The sun was about to set in the horizon. White clouds filled the blue sky in the west.

The golden rays of the setting sun filled the clouds with a variety of colors.

Down on the earth, the wheat fields swayed in the cool evening breeze. Colorful butterflies fluttered over the crops. Suddenly, one of them looked up towards the sky and saw the colorful clouds floating above and said, "Ah! Look up there. Beautiful fairies are dancing in the sky!"

The clouds floating in the sky looked down on the earth. They saw the butterflies and found their lovely and colorful wings inferior to their own beauty. 

The proud clouds considered the butterflies inferior to them.

But the butterflies had their own colors.

The clouds had borrowed their colors from the rays of the setting sun. ow long would those colors last?

The Sun was setting gradually. Its light also became dimmer. The colors of the clouds were also fading with the setting sun. The butterflies looked at the fading colors of the clouds. However, their own colors were the same as before! After all, they had colors of their own. But the clouds owed their colors to the sun.

The clouds looked beautiful because of their borrowed colors and yet they  were proud of their beauty. But what would happen to them when the sun had set?

Soon the sun set. It grew dark. The clouds, too, became dark. Their borrowed colors had faded. They now realized that their beauty was momentary, because it was borrowed. They were ashamed of their false pride. The butterflies still looked as beautiful as ever in their own colors.