Gregory sat on the back porch watched the dark clouds gathering overhead. Their monstrous shapes they made over the lake behind his house fascinated him. The clouds seemed to tumble over one another in an effort to see which one could reach the house first and drench it with rain. At streak of lightning followed by a clap of thunder reminded Gregory of something important.

"Calibur!" Gregory cried as he remembered his pet unicorn.

Calibur was growing into quite a large unicorn. After being the size of a small dog when he first found him, Calibur was now the size of a pony and was much too big to go on living in the house, much to Gregory's dismay and his parents' relief. Since being evicted from the house, Calibur lived in a stable behind the house built just for him.

Just as the downpour began, Gregory ran out to make sure that Calibur would be all right in the storm. Another crack of thunder made him run all the fast. Gregory ran into the stable and threw his arms around the unicorn.

"Oh Calibur! I hope the storm doesn't hurt you!"

Gregory kept his arms around his friend to keep himself from shaking with fright as the lightning continued to tear up the sky and the thunder sounded like bowling balls large as mountains rolling across the clouds. The wind caught hold of the trees, blowing them in all directions and snapping off branches. As for Calibur, he stood upright in his stall, and showed not the slightest anxiety over the noise in the sky or the shaking of the stable. The rain stopped, the wind died out and the wet grass sparkled as the sun came back out.

"This is the perfect time for a walk!" suggested Gregory.

Calibur nuzzled Gregory's shoulder to express his agreement with the proposal. So, Gregory led Calibur out onto the wet lawn. Since his tennis shoes and socks were already hopelessly wet from running to the stable as the storm broke, they were already a lost cause and Gregory did not give them another thought. Outside, a rainbow arched across the sky over the lake. Gregory and Calibur stopped to admire the rainbow's moist colors.

"You know?" said Gregory, "I hear there's supposed to be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Do you think we can find it?"

Calibur's eyes were already shining at the thought, so off they went. It did not take them long to find the beginning of the rainbow. That was right on the edge of the lake behind Gregory's house. Calibur started to trot up the rainbow, but Gregory's feet went straight through it and remained on the ground. Gregory cried after the unicorn until Calibur turned around and came back to Gregory. Calibur let Gregory climb on his back and then started to trot up the rainbow a second time. It was a rare and exciting treat for Gregory when Calibur let him ride him as he did not give the privilege often.

Up and up they went, well over the lake where, just a year ago, Gregory had been caught by a fish he was trying to catch and Calibur had to come and rescue him. From his vantage point over the lake, Gregory could hardly see the colors of the rainbow. He felt as if Calibur were walking on air, but Gregory felt fairly safe because he trusted Calibur to know where to place each step so as to keep them from falling off the rainbow.

The rainbow turned out to be much longer than it looked from the ground. Even after they had crossed over the lake, its end seemed as far away as ever. On the went, over forests and the nearest town, and then over more forest and farmlands and then even over a larger city. It was like flying in a little airplane where one can see the ground the houses and the traffic on the roads. Gregory was enjoying the ride so much that he had just about forgotten about the pot of gold he was supposed to look for until finally, at long last, the rainbow began to curve back down to the ground.

Calibur trotted down to another forest, must like the one next to Gregory's home. Anxiously Gregory looked down. It was true! Right where the rainbow met the ground of the forest, there was a little pot of the most beautiful and brightest gold in the world! Gregory started to climb off Calibur, but his feet dangled dangerously until he pulled himself back on. He still did not have a unicorn's talent for walking on rainbows.

So Gregory kept his eyes peeled on the pot of gold as Calibur brought him closer and closer to it. In another minute, he would be rich! But just before Calibur reached the pot of gold, a shadow stole across it. The shadow belonged to the hand of somebody else who had no right to the gold.

"You keep away from there!" Gregory ordered.

A boy, who looked to be about Gregory's age, jumped up and shied away from Calibur.

"Is that your pot of gold?" asked the boy.

"Yes," said Gregory. "I came all the way across the rainbow to get it."

"Does that make it yours?" challenged the boy.

"Of course it does."

"But I live at the end of the rainbow," said the boy. "That means the pot of gold is mine."

Gregory didn't know what to say, so he looked at Calibur. Calibur did not seem to be in the mood for letting Gregory know what he thought of this little argument. When Calibur moved his head a little, the boy stepped back from the unicorn a little more.

"Do you think you can use that unicorn of yours to bully me out of my gold?" asked the boy.

What an idea! Gregory hadn't even thought of that. He gave Calibur a gentle kick as a signal that he should threaten the boy who was trying to steal the pot of gold. But instead, Calibur sat down right in front of the pot of gold without threatening anybody.

"Calibur, what's wrong with you?" asked Gregory as he slid off the unicorn.

But Calibur said nothing.

Gregory was reduced to looking helplessly at the pot of gold and figuring out how he could take it before the other boy did. The other boy could only do the same. As they each stared at their prize, the gold began to shine so brightly that they could not keep their eyes on it. They each looked away. For quite a long time, Gregory and the other boy looked longingly at the pot of gold and then looked away when the gold's brightness blinded them.

"I have an idea," both boys said at once.

"What?" the boys asked each other.

"Maybe the pot of gold should stay--" Gregory began.

"--At the end of the rainbow," the other boy completed.

"Otherwise," said Gregory, "there might not be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow."

"Like there's supposed to be," said the other boy.

"And if the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is gone," said Gregory.

"Then maybe the rainbow will be gone, too," added the other boy.

"And it would be nice to have the rainbow come back next time we have a storm," said Gregory.

"I'd hate to have a storm with no rainbow at the end," said the other.

So, the two boys shook hands and left the pot of gold right where it was, at the end of the rainbow. Calibur rose to his feet and Gregory hopped up on to the unicorn's back.

"Can I come with you?" asked the boy. "I've never had the chance to ride a unicorn before."

"Sure," said Gregory, "if it's okay with Calibur.

And Calibur nudged the boy gently on the shoulder to tell him that it was okay for him to join Gregory on his back and have his first ride on a unicorn.