Rainbow Boy (RB) has to learn to live with his colors-with the rejection, fear of preditors, and not belonging as nothing happens to change the situation. He finds a degree of comfort and considers acceptance of himself, just as he is, from an old wise Voice in the hollow of a tree where he often visits when picked on by the other Cham kids. In RB’s humorous and insightful conversations with the Voice, both his sense of curiosity is provoked while his desire to prove himself are caused to emerge and he goes on an adventure seeking the best bug hunting spot for the entire Cham village in order to impress them and finally win their love.
The journey is arduous and full of predators. Though his extreme colors make his need to hide virtually impossible, he finds surprisingly that he is well prepared to escape due to his daily dodging of the tongue lashings he had received from the very Chams that he desired now to earn respect from.
One day, RB is not so lucky and is knocked out and plucked up at the end of a very long run by a large bird of prey. Coming to, he begins to fight the bird by gaping, hissing and tongue-lashing. As the bird becomes flustered and digs his talons into Rainbow Boy’s sides, the Cham’s anger is stirred up and by knee jerk reaction his most stunning colors come out. Startled by this, the bird drops him and RB falls from the sky through the canopies of the rainforest, tumbles trough hills of tropical Pillow Moss and lands with a number of scratches by a pool of water. Clearing his head, he weakly gets up and catches the first glimpse of himself in the reflection of the water. He had not yet seen himself before this moment, as his village had no large bodies of water as they were dew-lapping Chams. His colors were beginning to subside, but he saw them and thought them to be not so ridiculous, or even ugly.
Finding a new and varied source of extremely nutritious food in this area, he returns to his Village and convinces his people to make the journey with him. Helping each and every last one arrive, as none are as prepared as he is, they feast on a food source that not only improves their health but their colors. Weeks pass, and it becomes apparent that while many of the Chams are finding a new appreciation for RB, he is still only tolerated by some others as an oddity.
Then, in the cool of one early morning, the bird of prey returns with reinforcements. In the commotion, all the Chams run for every hollow or drop and hide. All have hidden except for the very oldest or the youngest. The birds of prey decide that they could easily surround these weakest to get their fill and build their energy to hunt the rest of the Cham village. RB cannot stand the thought of letting the weak ones be overtaken as he had once been himself as an outcast and once again this stirs up his anger and he lunges out at the birds of prey and just on cue, his colors are even more stunning then the last time. Seeing this, the birds of prey begin to back off. The weakest Chams have opportunity to escape and run behind RB. As RB turns to walk away, hunger demands one foolish bird of prey to make a try for RB. One talon catches him and slices him. Rainbow Boy falls to the forest floor, seemingly dead. Seeing this, the weakest ones turn in grief, anger, and distress and begin to change to the same bright colors as Rainbow Boy. They surround RB hissing, gaping, and tongue lashing at the birds and the others in the hollows join in. The birds of prey are intimidated by the new display of aggression and fly away.
In the coming year, RB makes a recovery from near death and become a natural leader to his people. He takes a wife, and from them come some of the most beautifully colored Cham babies. RB returns to the hollow of the tree of his youth and finds the Voice. In the close of the story, the voice reveals himself and RB is surprised to find a beautiful, and most brightly colored Poison Dart Frog-the most poisonous of all behind the wise and old Voice. RB is astonished by how long a small and fragile creature like this could have survived. And the Voice affectingly explains to RB that though he is small, and fragile it is his colors that have kept him alive for so long as predators know them to be warning signs of poison, that even RB would have eaten him if he had not had those colors. RB comes to understand that his colors were all along an outward manifestation of who he is inside, a Cham of endurance, strength and love. And a clue to guide him to his destiny. A destiny filled with choices to forgive, serve, and live.
P.S.- this story is for my personal use only.)