“The Giant Rainbow”
“As he stepped out through the spruces to a small trail running along a cliff’s edge, Theo glanced up and saw a rainbow such as he had never before in his life beheld. What he stared at was not a rain “bow” at all, but, rather, straight, wide, parallel stripings of color painted across the western sky. Each observed hue covered about 10 degrees of arc. Violet gave way to blue; blue to aquamarine; aquamarine to green; green to yellow; and yellow to orange. The colors shone as bright and pure as sunlight refractions from a prism. The aquamarine band especially interested the pilgrim. Usually, one barely noticed it in a rainbow. Typically, it was the thinnest of arcs. But here, now, the Turkish-stone pigment dominated the palette. Together, the huge colored arcs completely blotted out a mountain on the far side of the valley below him. And the yellow hue spilled over onto the toothed peaks below it, giving them the appearance of antique ivory carvings.”