It was a grey afternoon. Outside, the sky looked like a blanket of dull wool, without a single thread of sun. Ziggy, Lily, Skye, and Dash were sitting around the low table, with lots of little colored papers scattered everywhere. They were building a big paper rainbow, gluing red, yellow, green, and purple strips onto a big board.

"My purple piece goes right here," said Lily, pressing hard with her finger.

"And I'll put yellow like the sun, since the sun isn't out today," laughed Dash, who couldn't stay still for a second.

Skye chose the lightest strip of all and laid it down softly, as if it were a feather. Ziggy, instead, looked at the colors and thought. He liked to mix them with his eyes and imagine what would happen if red hugged blue.

Around them, as always, were his four cats. Sofia, the little black cat, purred under the table. Dora, the brave tabby, watched the window. Poldo, fat and soft, slept like a cushion. And Milo, taller and nimble, jumped to catch the scraps flying around.

All of a sudden, a strange smell came from the board. A smell of sugar. And a little colored light came right out of the purple piece, dancing in the air.

"Did you smell that too?" whispered Skye.

Then, from far away, a familiar sound: "CHUFF CHUFF!"

It was Toby the Magic Train, puffing along happily with his shiny wagons. He stopped in front of the window and said:

"CHUFF CHUFF! Climb aboard now, one and all,
I'll take you where the sweetest treats will fall.
Down from the sky comes something good to eat,
but now it's all mixed up and not so sweet!"

The children clapped their hands and ran aboard, with the four cats darting in last. The train set off fast, crossed a tunnel of clouds, and stopped in a wonderful place.

It was the Land of Sweets. The houses had biscuit roofs, the streets were made of pink sugar, and the lampposts looked like giant lollipops. But there was something wrong. All the people had wrinkled noses and twisted faces.

"Why are they making those faces?" asked Dash.

Just then, a thin white rain began to fall from the sky. Ziggy held out his hand, caught a few grains, and tasted them. "Yuck! But this is salt!"

"Salt instead of candy?" said Lily, with her hands on her hips. "There's a mystery to solve here."

In the middle of the square was a big carousel with little horses. But it was still and crooked, tilted to one side like a deflated cake.

As they looked at it, a light little voice came from behind a sugar lamppost.

"Are you looking for the reason for all this confusion?" whispered the voice.

The children turned around. In front of them was a little bird like none they had ever seen. It was a swallow, but its feathers were a thousand different colors: one blue, one orange, one green, one golden. It smelled of cinnamon and faraway rain. And it spoke in a low voice, as if telling a secret.

Dash took a step back. "What a strange bird," he whispered.

Lily narrowed her eyes, curious but a little unsure. Skye stayed quiet. It was an animal so different from all the others that the children didn't quite know what to think.

Ziggy, though, came closer with a smile. "Hi! What beautiful feathers you have. I've never seen so many colors together. What's your name?"

The little bird seemed surprised by that kindness. "My name is Zefira," she whispered. "I've been flying for a long time, under every sky in the world. Each color of my feathers comes from a different place where I've been, from dawn until twilight."

"Twilight?" asked Skye, in a low voice. "What's that?"

"Twilight is that sweet moment of the evening," explained Zefira, "when the sun says goodbye and the sky turns pink and purple, before the dark comes."

"What a beautiful word," said Skye, and she smiled.

Then Zefira told the secret. "Do you see that carousel? When it spins, it catches the colors of the dawn up there in the sky and turns them into candy that rains over the whole land. But it's missing a piece: the Rainbow Glass. Without that glass, the light isn't sweetened, and instead of candy, salt falls."

"And where did the glass go?" asked Ziggy.

"It fell a long time ago," whispered Zefira. "I saw it while I was flying. It got stuck up there, right at the top of the carousel."

Everyone looked up. The carousel, all of a sudden, started spinning on its own again, crooked and fast, with the little horses jerking up and down. At the top, between two little flags, a small drop-shaped glass sparkled, full of all the colors.

Ziggy looked at it. And then, in his head, an idea lit up, like a lightbulb. "Aha! I've got it! If the colors make the candy, we just have to put the glass back in its place right when a ray of dawn goes by! The glass will take the light and make it sweet!"

"What a wonderful idea," said Lily. "But the carousel spins fast. How will you get up there?"

Ziggy looked around. He thought. He watched the little horses going up and down like waves of the sea. "I don't have to stop it," he said. "I have to climb up with it, following its rhythm. And I have four special helpers."

He looked at his cats. "Poldo, you're strong and sturdy: will you be my step? Milo, you jump higher than anyone: will you help me reach the top?"

Poldo went "Meow!" and planted himself next to the carousel, big and solid like a soft step. Milo straightened his tail, ready to jump.

"We'll keep an eye on you," said Lily. "If you need us, we're right here below."

"Go Ziggy!" shouted Dash. "You're the fastest of all, after me!"

Ziggy took a deep breath. He climbed onto Poldo, who pushed him up. Then he jumped onto a passing little horse and held on tight. The carousel carried him up and down, round and round. The wind ruffled his hair. All of a sudden a little horse swerved to the side and Ziggy slipped with one foot, but Dora hissed loudly to give him courage, and he caught himself just in time. Ziggy laughed and was a little scared at the same time, but he didn't give up.

He reached the second little horse. He stretched his hand toward the top, but it was still far away. "Milo, now!"

Milo took a huge leap, landed next to Ziggy, and became his support. Ziggy stood up, balancing on the cat's sturdy paws, with his arms open like a little acrobat. He swayed right, he swayed left, but he stayed up.

Meanwhile Zefira flew in circles above the carousel. "The ray is coming," she whispered. "Get ready, my little creative friend. When I count to three, slip in the glass!"

From the sky, a ribbon of green and purple light, the dawn, began to come down toward the carousel.

"One... two... three!" whispered Zefira.

Ziggy, balancing, stretched out his arm with all his might and pushed the Rainbow Glass into its hole, right as the ray of dawn passed through it.

CLACK! The glass snapped into place.

For a moment nothing happened. Everyone held their breath. Then the dawn light passed inside the glass and spread into a thousand colors. The carousel stopped spinning crooked and began to spin straight, sweet, and musical. And from the sky, instead of salt, candy of every color began to fall: red, yellow, green, and purple.

"Caaandy!" shouted all the people of the Land of Sweets, their noses finally happy.

Ziggy came down from the carousel, sliding into the arms of Lily, Skye, and Dash, who hugged him with joy. The four cats circled around him, purring.

But there was someone off to the side. Zefira, the swallow, had perched on a lamppost, a little alone.

Skye came closer to her. "Zefira, without you we never would have made it. Only you knew where the glass was, because only you have flown under every sky."

"It's true," said Ziggy. "Your unusual colors are the most precious thing of all. You saved us precisely because you're different."

Dash lowered his eyes. "I'm sorry I called you strange before. You're a wonderful swallow."

Zefira smiled, and her feathers all shone together. For the first time in a long while, she didn't feel alone. She flew close to the children and made a happy loop above their heads, leaving behind her a trail of cinnamon.

The Land of Sweets threw a big party, with candy for everyone. The people danced, gathered the candy into their hats, and offered Zefira the place of honor at the top of the carousel. But meanwhile it had grown late, and the sky was turning pink.

"It's twilight," said Skye, and everyone smiled.

"CHUFF CHUFF!" It was Toby the Magic Train, come back to get them.

The children waved goodbye to Zefira, climbed onto the wagons with the cats, and Toby said:

"CHUFF CHUFF! Go home now with a happy smile,
and carry your bright colors mile by mile.
Whoever seems strange and flies their own way,
can be the finest friend of every day."

The little train set off gently, crossed the tunnel of clouds, and brought the children back to their room, in front of the rainbow board. Outside, the grey sky had opened up, and a ray of sun lit their colorful papers.

Ziggy looked at his friends and smiled. He had understood something important: sometimes the most beautiful ideas are born precisely when you look at something, or someone, with kind eyes.