Leo was bored. It was a rainy Saturday, and his big box of crayons sat forgotten under a pile of toys. He sighed and stared out the window at the grey sky.
But inside the box, something magical was happening.
A small, grumpy mumble came from inside. It was Grey Crayon. "Another dull day," he muttered. "I'm tired of drawing elephants and rocks."
"Me too!" squeaked White Crayon. "No one ever uses me. They forget I'm even here!"
A lively Red Crayon hopped up. "Well, let's not wait for Leo! Let's have our own adventure! Let's… let's draw our own picture!"
All the crayons gasped. Draw by themselves? Without a hand to guide them? They had never done such a thing!
One by one, they pushed the lid of the box open and tumbled out onto a big, blank piece of paper.
"Where do we start?" asked Yellow Crayon, trembling with excitement.
"At the top, of course!" announced Blue Crayon. "We need a sky!" And he rolled himself back and forth, leaving a brilliant blue streak across the paper.
"But it's raining outside! The sky is grey!" said Grey Crayon.
"Not in our world!" cheered Blue. "In our world, the sky is always sunny and bright!"
Inspired, Yellow Crayon jumped up. "I'll make the sun!" She spun in a happy circle, creating a shining, yellow sun right in the corner.
Green Crayon couldn't wait any longer. "A sun needs something to shine on!" He scurried to the bottom of the paper and rolled up and down, creating a wobbly, wonderful hill of bright green grass.
Orange and Purple began drawing flowers. They didn't draw them in neat rows; they drew them dancing! Big, silly flowers with lopsided petals and long, curly stems.
Red Crayon decided the picture needed a friend. He carefully drew a magnificent, lopsided dragon with a friendly smile. But what was a dragon without something fantastic? White Crayon, feeling very brave, rolled gently next to the dragon’s mouth. "I'll give him puffs of friendly cloud-smoke!" she said.
They all worked together—Brown for a twisting tree trunk, Green for a messy, leafy bush, and even Black for outlining a funny little path that wandered off the edge of the paper.
They were having so much fun, they didn't hear the rain stop. They didn't see Leo turn away from the window.
Leo turned around and his mouth fell open in a perfect "O" of surprise.
There, on his desk, was a masterpiece. It was the most colorful, happy, chaotic, and wonderful picture he had ever seen. The crayons were scattered around it, lying on their sides as if they were tired from their great adventure.
Leo slowly walked over and picked up the picture. A huge smile spread across his face. He picked up Red Crayon. "You did this?" he whispered.
The crayon felt warm in his hand.
That afternoon, Leo didn't feel bored at all. He sat down, selected his favorite crayons, and started to draw. He drew a big, friendly dragon flying over a dancing flower field, with a bright yellow sun and a brilliant blue sky.
And if you listened very, very closely, you might have heard the soft, happy hum of crayons, finally getting to