One day, Iris, the goddess of the rainbow, quarreled with the Sky. She told the Sky that it was unfair that she appeared so rarely. Iris blamed the Sky for the fine weather and the absence of rains for a long time as she was allowed to appear only after the rain. She told me that she was so happy when people saw her regularly and admired her beauty. The Sky replied to her that he would not change this and that people did not need the rainbow. The Sky told her that people needed only the sun and the rains because they made their lands fruitful. However, Iris was not persuaded by this argument.
She told the Sky, “If only the food is the source of people’s well-being, people live the empty lives because, although they are fat, they are not happy.”
“You do not understand. They are already happy because the sun shines every day”, The Sky replied.
“People love me. They are just thankful for the sun but I doubt whether this source of happiness which is given to them almost every day is valued more than the one which they see only a few times. They miss me, I am sure”, Iris added with regret.
“Think what you want but I will not give the rain as you ask anyway”, The Sky persisted.
Iris was angry. She missed people too. She had not seen them for months and decided to undertake anything to appear. She thought that when she appeared, people would be so happy to see her that she would persuade the Sky in her importance.
One day, when the sun had already appeared in the sky, Iris appeared over the hills. She tried so hard to be noticed by every citizen of the city that when they had seen her, they had been charmed by the most beautiful rainbow they ever seen in their lives. The Sky was angry about her action. The Sky turned dark and the weather became awful. People were frightened of the disaster. Immediately, they turned back to their homes, hiding their children, household staff, and cattle. Children began crying.
The Sky laughed at Iris. She became indignant.
“Do you still believe that you are more important than the sun?”, The Sky asked her.
“After your actions and the fear which people felt, I became even surer that they value me more. I will be a sparkling memory in their minds”, Iris replied.
Seeing her impertinence, the Sky decided to punish her.
“You will never appear again! I will not send the rain anymore!”, The Sky said.
Iris cried. Her last hope to persuade the Sky disappeared.
The sun shined every day. People had not seen the rain for months. The drought had led to famine because the fruitful lands turned to deserts. The Sky had seen that and started to send the rains every day. The sun disappeared and it was raining steadily. The floods destroyed the cattle-pens and devastated the fields completely. People had never suffered so much before. Many left the city in search of fruitful lands. Many lost their homes because of the severe rains and the wind. Everyone recalled the good days when the sun and the rain replaced each other allowing them to survive. The panic began in the city.
The Sky observed their troubles. He started to realize that if all people died, no one would be thankful for the sun and the rain, and no one would admire them. Eventually, he allowed the sun shining. The steady rains stopped. However, the Sky knew that if he did not send the rain, the disaster would repeat. That is why, after a week of the fine weather, it was started to rain. This way Iris realized that she allowed appearing. It was her turn now.
When people’s sufferings stopped, they were so happy to see her. She became the sign of the recovery of their land and the well-being. Iris was bright and colorful. She symbolized happiness itself. People began to believe that the rainbow was the sign of new life and prosperity. This was due to the fact it appeared only if the sunny and the rainy weather replaced each other from time to time, and people could grow the crops and tend the herds.
“The sufferings of people made me change my decision,” the Sky said to Iris.
“Now they are happy, and I am happy too,” Iris replied.
In that way, the Sky realized that the sun, the rain, and the rainbow were all important to people’s well-being. The first gave them the light and the warm, the second prevented the drought and made the fields fruitful, and the last one gave them a sign that their land prospered. Because it was important for people that the sun and the rain replaced each other, it was logical that the rainbow was equally important.