One hot summer morning a little cloud r of the sea and floated lightly and happily across the blue sky Far below lay the earth, brown, dry, and desolate, from drouth. The little cloud could see the poor people of the earth working and suffering in hot fields, while she herself floated on the morning breeze, hither and thither, without a care. th "Oh, if I could only help the poor people dows there!" she thought. "If I could but make their w easter, or give the hungry ones food, or the thirsty Work And as the day passed, and the cloud became a drink!" larger, this wish to do something for the people of earth was ever greater in her heart. On earth it grew hotter and hotter; the sun burned down so fiercely that the people were fainting in its rays; it seemed as if they must die of heat, and yet they were obliged to go on with their work, for they were very poor. Sometimes they stood and looked up at the cloud, as if they were praying, and saying, "Ah, if you could help us!" "I will help you; I will!" said the cloud. And she began to sink softly down toward the earth. But suddenly, as she floated down, she remembered something which had been told her when she was a tiny cloud-child, in the lap of Mother Ocean: it had been whispered that if the clouds go too near the earth they die. When she remembered this she held herself from sinking, and swayed here and there on the breeze, thinking. hinking. But at last she stood quite still, and spoke Doldly and proudly. She said, "Men of earth, I will elp you, come what may!" The thought made her suddenly marvelously g and strong and powerful. Never had she eamed that she could be so big. Like a mighty angel of blessing she stood above the earth, and lifted her head and spread her wings far over the fields and woods. She was so great, so majestic, that men and animals were awe-struck at the sight; the sand the grasses bowed before her; yet all the earth-creatures felt that she meant them well. trees "Yes, I will help you," cried the cloud once more. "Take me to yourselves; I will give my life for you!" As she said the words a wonderful light glowed from her heart, the sound of thunder rolled through the sky, and a love greater than words can tell filled the Cloud; down, down, close to the earth she swept, and gave up her life in a blessed, healing shower of rain. Adopted from: Sara cone Bryant, Stories to Tell to Children: Fitty- One Stories With Suggestions for Telling, Cambridge, Houghton Mifflin Company, The Riverside Press, 1908 5. What is the story mostly about? A. Friendship. C. Kindness 6. What is the main character? A. People on Earth B. Mother ocean C. The sound of thunder D. Cloud 7. What happened to the people on Earth? A. Suffering C. Loss B. Envy D. Care B: Solidarity D. Peacefulness​