Dew's Rolling Adventure

A drop begins her fall

High above a quiet pond, a tiny raindrop named Dew tumbled out of a soft grey cloud. Wind rushed past her as she fell, spinning gently past dragonflies and drifting seeds. "I wonder where I'll land," she thought, watching the green world rise up to meet her. Below her, the pond spread out like a mirror, dotted with leaves of every shape and size.

A breeze finds something new

Dew rolled and slid across leaf after leaf on her way down to the pond, and each one felt rough and damp beneath her, freckled with specks of mud that stuck fast and stayed. "Doesn't anybody ever clean this pond?" Dew wondered, wobbling over a dusty, dull green leaf. Just then, a warm breeze nudged her sideways, off the edge of that leaf and onto something new, a leaf so smooth and silvery-blue it seemed to glow. "Now this is different," Dew said, catching her breath.

Round as a tiny pearl

The moment Dew touched down, she felt herself curl up tight instead of spreading flat, until she was round as a tiny pearl. "How curious!" she said, rolling in a little circle. A soft voice chuckled beneath her. "That tickles," said Lily, the great lotus leaf. "My whole face is covered in millions of tiny waxy bumps, too small for anyone to see. Water can't lie flat across all of them, so it curls up round instead, just like you." Dew wobbled with delight, feeling like the most perfectly round raindrop in the whole pond.

Cleaning as she rolls

"Now watch what happens next," Lily said, tilting gently as the breeze passed over her. Dew began to roll, faster and faster, down the slope of the great leaf. As she rolled, she brushed against a tiny speck of dust caught in her path, and it stuck to her round side and came along for the ride. "I'm cleaning you!" Dew laughed, gathering speck after speck as she tumbled toward the leaf's edge. "Every drop that rolls across me carries a little mud away," Lily said proudly. "That's how I stay spotless, even sitting in the muddiest water for months and months."

A spotless goodbye

At the very edge of the leaf, Dew paused, glowing with all the tiny specks of dirt she'd swept along the way. "Thank you for showing me your secret," she said. "Thank you for helping me shine," Lily replied warmly. With one last happy wobble, Dew rolled off the edge and dropped into the pond below with a tiny, cheerful splash, joining hundreds of other drops that had rolled clean off Lily's leaf that very same day. Above her, Lily's leaf gleamed bright green in the sunlight, spotless as ever, ready to welcome the next raindrop who came tumbling down.