Humanities Professor, Part 3
Moon and Wolf, Rooster and Sun
By Jenna R######
There was a time when Sun and Moon lived side by side in the sky. There was no night time, for there was no darkness.
Sun was bold and brilliant. Trees and flowers and lifted their arms to him and the animals bathed in his warmth.
Moon glowed softly. She was shy and mysterious and played in the shadows of the tree tops. She was beautiful, and all things loved her, including Sun.
Sun knew that every living thing on earth depended on him for light and warmth. He was proud of his strength and glory and he was boastful. One day, he had grown so full of himself, that he crowned himself king and commanded everything on earth to worship him.
Everything on Earth did worship Sun, except a song bird named Rooster. Rooster knew that Sun was important, but he was wary of Sun’s boastfulness. Nothing good can come of such vanity.
Rooster was Moon’s dearest friend and Moon was Rooster’s. Rooster would sing to Moon songs so sweet her heart would break. Moon pulled the strings of the ocean and entertained Rooster with the dancing of the waves.
Moon had a secret that only Rooster knew. Moon loved a comet with a bushy tail of fire. The comet was named Wolf and he loved Moon as much as she loved him. Moon’s glow was gentle, and he loved that her radiance left shadows and mystery in her wake.
Wolf danced around Moon in the shadows of the treetops and sang songs with Rooster, that song bird that did not worship Sun. Wolf and Rooster would sing and Wolf and the ocean would dance, and for a while, life was beautiful in that secret world behind the trees.
Sun grew accustomed to having everything he wanted. He surrounded himself with beautiful things; birds, flowers, trees. There was nothing in all the heavens or on earth so beautiful to Sun as the silvery face of Moon. He watched her and Rooster, playing in the sky behind the treetops. He watched enviously, and felt a roiling in his center that he could not understand.
One day Sun made himself especially warm and bright. He straightened his golden crown and called to Moon to stand before him. He was king of everything. Moon should be honored to be asked to be his wife. And so he asked her.
“No!” cried a startled Moon more sharply than she would have liked.
Sun was angered and humiliated. He turned his back on Moon as she ran quickly to the safety of her treetops.
It was several days before Sun’s embarrassment and disappointment faded. Sun was not wicked. He truly loved Moon and wished to be married to her. He consulted with his advisers, Owl and Dragonfly. Dragonfly reminded Sun that though Moon did not shine as brightly as Sun, she sat beside him in the heavens, not beneath him. “You do not rule her, as you rule the earth and all its inhabitants,” she told him. “Moon is gentle, and you must be gentle as well, or you will lose her forever.”
Sun considered Dragonfly’s advice. It was reasonable. Dragonfly was, after all, female. She should have some insight that Sun and Owl did not.
On the following day, Sun left his crown and some of his radiance behind as he sought out Moon in her treetops. Rooster had heard a whisper on the breeze that Sun would be coming, so he hid behind a cloud with Wolf.
Moon smiled gently at Sun, but she knew why he had come and her heart belonged to Wolf and Wolf alone. So when Sun asked the question, Moon told him, “I’m sorry, but I cannot. My heart is no longer mine to give.”
Sun felt rage boiling up inside him. Without a word, he turned and left Moon heavy with regret that she had wounded him.
Sun’s disappointment turned to determination. When he returned to his chambers he summoned Owl to him. “Her heart is no longer hers to give,” he told Owl. “I want you to find the one who holds it and return to me with the news.”
Owl did as he was ordered. He went to Moon’s treetops and watched as she pulled the oceans strings to make the waves dance to another of Rooster’s sweet songs. “This must be the one,” thought Owl, for he had not seen Wolf orbiting Moon, brushing her cheek with his tail. Owl rushed back to Sun to give him the news.
All of the living things under Sun’s dominion had begun to notice a change. His warmth had elevated to a scorching heat. They sought shade during the day time, and those who couldn’t, like Sunflower and Daisy, began to hang their weary heads where they had once lifted them to Sun’s glory. When the news was spread that Sun had sent for Rooster, even Cicada and Squirrel ceased their usual chitter, and a worried murmur fell over all the earth.
When Rooster arrived at Sun’s court, he lighted, gently in front of Sun and bowed politely to the King of Everything. Sun dismissed Owl and Dragonfly and he and Rooster looked at each other eye to eye.
“I wish to marry Moon,” Sun told Rooster. “Do you know this?”
“I have heard,” replied Rooster, cautiously.
“She claims that another possesses her heart,” Sun continued. “I think it is you.”
Rooster laughed a gentle laugh. “Moon is my dearest friend in all the heavens or on earth. But I do not possess her heart.”
“I think you do,” proclaimed Sun, heatedly. “You would lie? Are you a coward?”
“If I held Moon’s heart, I would be afraid to tell you, because I suspect you would try to take it from me,” explained Rooster, calmly. “But I do not, and therefore I have no reason to lie and I am not afraid of you.”
An angry flare leapt from Sun’s forehead and nearly singed Rooster’s wing. Rooster took flight in case more should follow, and Sun’s curses followed him most of the way back to Moon and Wolf.
Rooster told the story to Moon and Wolf. Moon was saddened by Sun’s behavior. Wolf was concerned. Wolf had noticed the weary flowers and shrinking pools. The fruit on Tree and Vine were shrinking and dropping to the earth before their time. How far would Sun go to have the only thing that had ever been denied him?
“I think we should leave,” Wolf announced one night to Moon and Rooster. “Sun will not rest until he has Moon, and all the living things will be dead before that time.”
Moon nodded solemnly. “But where shall we go?” she wondered aloud. “Rooster is bound to Sun and the earth.”
Rooster bowed his head politely to Moon and Wolf. They could easily leave him behind to play on another earth with another song bird, but he knew they would never do such a thing.
Wolf summoned them closer to him. He did not wish to be overheard. “I have traveled through the sky and stars,” he told them. “Sun does not shine on all of earth. There are parts of earth that Sun does not reach, and so it is always night there. The heavens twinkle with star light. And we would be free of Sun’s demands.
Moon was saddened to leave the trees and flowers and animals she knew, but she wanted to be with Wolf and Rooster, and it seemed that this was the only way. “We must leave immediately,”
What none of them knew was that Owl was perched on a tree branch in a shadow nearby. He heard their plan and rushed back to Sun to relay the news.
When Sun heard Owl’s tale, his heart ached with sadness. He set out in an instant to find Moon, and make her see reason.
When Sun reached Moon’s sanctuary, it was empty. He looked out across the ocean and saw her far in the distance. He longed for Moon in ways that pained him. He wanted her and he wanted her to understand him. He was the King of Everything. He could never do her harm. He only wanted to give her everything. Why couldn’t she understand that? The question angered Sun, as he set out over the ocean to catch Moon and force her to return with him.
Moon and Wolf and Rooster flew quickly over the ocean waves to the dark and empty side of Earth. Wolf looked behind them often, looking for signs that they were being followed. It did not take long for him to recognize the glow of Sun’s corona creeping up the horizon.
“He’s coming,” Wolf whispered, somberly. They had hoped that could get far enough away before Sun realized they had gone that he would not follow. “Someone must have heard us planning and told him.”
“What should we do?” panted Rooster, flying with all his might to keep up with Moon and Wolf.
Moon stopped. “We cannot outrun him,” she said, tiredly. She turned to face the horizon over which Sun was rising. “Sing to me,” she said, as she began to pull the strings of the ocean. Wolf and Rooster did not even exchange glances. They sang to her, the sweetest song they had ever sung. The waves danced more strongly and gracefully than they ever had. Moon laughed, though tears filled her eyes. Wolf stroked her cheek with his bushy comet tail of fire. Rooster sang as if his voice were the very air needed to keep him in flight.
Sun arrived. “Moon, I love you,” he said, trembling with something unthinkable growing inside him.
Wolf and Rooster continued their song. Moon continued to pull the strings of the ocean.
“Please look at me, Moon,” Sun continued, but Moon did not look at Sun. “I am speaking to you, Moon!” Sun shouted angrily. The roar was deafening. Rooster clutched his ears and fell, limply into the ocean below. Without a thought to his own care, Wolf flew into the water to save him.
“You do not love me!” Moon cried angrily. “If you loved me, you would never try to take my happiness from me. I have everything I want and I am sorry that you are not part of it.”
Moon’s words cut through Sun like a sword. His rage exploded into a colossal ball of fire. The ocean boiled. Whale and Dolphin and Shark screamed and leapt from waters as they sped toward cooler seas with smaller, slower sea life clinging to them for their lives. Steam bellowed upward from the roiling sea below, enveloping Moon, whose screams of horror were swallowed up in the hiss.
Even Sun was tossed far, far away, back to his world of chambers and servants – back to the world he had nearly ruined with his uncontrolled temper.
When the ocean cooled, Whale and Dolphin were there beneath Moon with Rooster and Wolf on their backs. Rooster’s wings were burnt and he could no longer fly, and when he tried to speak, his voice was harsh and broken. Wolf’s bushy tail of fire had been extinguished when he went into the water after Rooster. He too, was now bound to earth. Moon’s face had been blistered by the rising steam. She hid her face in shame as she followed Whale and Dolphin slowly back to their beloved seashore, where the blackened tree tops had once been their play ground.
Rooster and Wolf were laid upon the sand. They were too exhausted to notice that Sun’s light was absent, and that the sand was cool in the darkness. Moon watched over them, her face in shadow, as she tended to their wounds with help from Deer and Crab.
When the news spread that Rooster and Wolf had recovered, Owl and Firefly came to them. Owl’s eyes were wide and bright with tears of grief for what he’d done. He bowed to them, each one, solemnly and admitted guilt for his part in what had happened. Moon did not speak. She only nodded. Rooster and Wolf forgave him.
“I’ve come to bring you news from Sun,” Firefly said. “He is deeply saddened by what his fury has cost. He wishes to speak to you, if you will see him.
Moon peered around the shadow that hid her face and looked at Owl skeptically. Firefly continued, “He will come to you.”
Moon agreed to meet with Sun. Soon she saw him coming slowly over a hill. He held his crown in his hands, humbly. “I beg you to forgive me for my terrible deeds,” he said, his eyes lowered to the ground. “I was angry and I lost control and now I see the consequences of my behavior.”
Moon sighed deeply. Everything seemed sad and broken, now. Things could never again be what they were. But she knew that Sun was sincere, and so she touched his hand and told him that she forgave him.
Sun and Moon agreed to share the heavens equally. Sun would hold court in the sky for part of the day, giving the flowers and trees and animals his precious light. But the rest of the day, the dark part, belonged to Moon. Her time would be called night.
This is how Wolf came to be earthbound, a creature of night, and lover of Moon. His song is deep and mournful. He loves her. He loves her. But he can no longer brush her cheek with his bushy tail. Moon continues to hide her face in shadows, but the louder Wolf sings to her, the less she hides. This is the new game that they play as they gaze at each other longingly through night.
Rooster is still Moon’s champion. He watches for Sun while Moon and Wolf love each other in their way. At Sun’s first sign of waking, Rooster announces him, loudly and repeatedly, trumpeting the end of night and the start of a new day.