How Stars Came to Be
By Elizabeth Furiga
Long ago when the earth was still young naught but the sun and moon filled the sky and lit up the dark expanse. However, things were not well. The sun and the moon quarreled daily. About which half of the sky each got and who got to stay where and who was in the sky when.
This became so bad that one day the Great Spirit told them both that if the arguments did not cease they would both be banished from the sky forever. This greatly disturbed both the sun and the moon. They both loved their wondrous lives in the sky and could not imagine life somewhere else.
The sun and moon decided to sit down and have a civilized talk. They knew there must be a reason as to why they always quarreled. So they conversed and came to a middle point.
“We should split each day in half. You will get all the sky for one half and I will get all the sky for the other half,” the sun said.
The moon liked this idea but was secretly dissatisfied. She had always been jealous of the sun. He was bright and shined so much more than she did. Everything about him filled the sky with light, and he glittered and gleamed in every angle possible. The moon wished she too could shine quite as bright.
So although the two came to an agreement, there were still numerous problems. The moon refused to talk to the sun and was cruel and hostile to her only friend. She simply refused to be kind and friendly. Her every word was full of jealousy and greed. The sun pleaded with her day by day but nothing seemed to budge her cruelty.
Again the Great Spirit arrived from his place in the universe to come and chastise the sun and the moon for the final time. He planned to take them both from the sky and banish them to live on land for all their days.
When the Great Spirit finally arrived he said, “Sun, moon, I am most disappointed in you. I asked you to resolve your problems and I see that has not been done. I have no choice but to banish you both down to the earth forevermore. Come now, we must do it quick.”
“Please Great Spirit, do give us one more chance. It’s just that moon has been so disagreeable these days. She always tries to fight with me, but I do nothing. I can’t see just what her problem is. We had a good talk and made a great agreement, but it’s just not working,” the sun pleaded.
The Great Spirit relented to the suns pleas. He decided that they must sit and find out why the moon was always fighting with the sun no matter what he did.
“Well, you see. I’m just so jealous of how bright the sun is. He gleams and shines in every single way. Everything about him lights up the sky so much. Why can’t I be like him too?” the moon said.
The Great Spirit decided to give the moon something very special, stars. The stars were small lights that made the moon’s glow in the sky so much brighter.
When you look up at the black sky at night, remember how jealousy helped to create one of the prettiest things in the world: stars.