A long, long time ago, before things were as they are today, all the colors of the world were controlled by a wise Parrot. Parrot owned the magical dye that gave everything color. Parrot was very well known for his wisdom in his country of India. His power gave him the respect of the many different creatures in the land. After all, it was Parrot who made their home country as beautiful and vivid as it was. He had more power than anyone else for miles around. When Parrot wanted the sky to be blue, he turned it blue, and it will stay that way until he chooses a different color. This was his job.
Now Parrot made some things colorful, and some things not, because that was the way he liked it. Ironically, he was a bland creature, a dull brown from head to toe. But he did not mind, he was too busy on his other projects to think about his own appearance. One of Parrot’s favorite creations was the peacock. It was the perfect blend of colors, and although he was very proud of his work, he did not boast, unlike Peacock.
Peacock loved to show off his colorful feathers. He would walk around, parading his feathers, bragging to all about his amazing appearance. “Look at me,” he would say, “Parrot likes me the best, so he gave ME the best colors, and not you!” And the spectators would scowl at him, for Peacock was known for his cockiness.
One afternoon, following his daily procession around town, Peacock began to think, questioning the nature around him.
“Why should I get to be the only creature that is colorful? I cannot see myself.” He thought. “I want to look at something as beautiful as me!” Pondering this, Peacock looked at his surroundings. Although India was a very beautiful and diverse land, Peacock wasn’t completely satisfied with the color palate. He saw a lot of green, and decided there needed to be less. He looked closer, and discovered a weed-flower. No one liked weed-flowers, because they didn’t match the grass around them. Although all flowers were green, they weren’t the same shape or size as the grass, so they would pull them out of the ground. This gave Peacock a brilliant idea.
“Weed-flowers should be beautiful like me!” Peacock exclaimed. “Since no one wants them, everyone will throw all of them away, leaving them for only me to look at! That way, I will still be the most gorgeous creature in all the land and still get to look at something truly beautiful!” The very next morning, Peacock set out to find Parrot to change the colors of the flowers.
“Salutations, Peacock.” Parrot said when Peacock arrived. “What brings you here on this fine day?”
“Why, I just wanted to thank you for your wonderful eye for color in this amazing, colorful world you painted with your magical touch.” Peacock flattered Parrot, bowing low in his presence.
“You’re nothing but a charmer, Peacock.” Parrot smiled. This was one of the reasons that Peacock was secretly his favorite, and Peacock definitely took advantage of it.
Peacock sighed. “I just wanted to tell you, your Honor, that I have been thinking a lot about your use of color lately.” He began, “One of the things that I thought about was why you are not the most bold and majestic creature of us all? Surely, you deserve to be more colorful than anyone else. With all of your talent and hard work, you are entitled to a reward for your strenuous labor.” This was a new thought to Parrot. Never before had he considered coloring himself. He truly could be the most vivid, beautiful creature on earth.
After some more persuading words from Peacock, Parrot agreed that he deserved to be bright and colorful, so all the other animals would know that he is the ruler of the colors. This is why parrots have been colorful since. After changing his appearance, Peacock told Parrot to go to the river to take a look at his new feathers.
“But, the closest river is a mile away!” Parrot declared. “Who will watch over my magical dyes while I am gone? I can’t possibly leave them alone for that long.”
“Me, of course”, declared Peacock. “I will take good care of them for you. You are the one who gave me my colors, and I’d be happy to do this favor for you.” Peacock reassured. “Don’t you trust me? I am your good friend, after all.” At this, Parrot confidently flew down to the river to admire his new colors.
As soon as Parrot was out of sight, Peacock snatched the dyes and ran back home. The entire way home, Peacock sprinkled the dye here and there, on every weed-flower he found. Purple, pink, yellow, orange, red, so many colors! He mixed them on flowers, some with pink and red, others purple and yellow, there were endless possibilities.
But all this work made Peacock very tired. So in the middle of a particularly colorful field, he laid down for a rest. He awoke from Parrot’s screeching at him. Parrot was very angry at Peacock’s actions. He yelled at Peacock for stealing his dyes, and tricking him. Peacock tried to run away with the dyes, but Parrot wouldn’t let them, and they tumbled into a fight.

This fighting made the gods very angry. The gods bellowed at Peacock and Parrot. They said that the two of them were to be punished because of what they did. Peacock, because he stole and deceived. Parrot, because he gave into flattery and started a fight. The gods demanded that Peacock give them the dye, so no one had control of it. That was both of their punishments. However, a color can only be changed once, and the dye cannot be undone.

So because of Parrot and Peacock, all the flowers in the world will continue to be all the colors of the rainbow.