Once, in the long ago, the stars grew in the sky like flowers, budding and blooming in sparkling splendour. The whole of the sky was covered with them, like a field of fireweed in summer; they covered it so thickly that no patch of sky could be seen through them. They covered the sky so thickly, and their light was so great, that they made the night like day and the day like noontime.
It was so bright all the time that the People could never sleep, and because they could not sleep, they were so tired that they could not work. And the weeds began to choke the berry bushes, and the houses began to fall down. The People would have bemoaned their lot, but they were too tired to.
Raven, though, didn't mind at all, for he could tuck his head under his wing and fall right asleep. But when there were no more berries for him to pluck, he noticed, and he went to the wise woman of the People to complain.
There are no more berries! he told her.
She yawned, and shrugged, and said, We know.
The weeds are choking the bushes, Raven told her.
She yawned again. We know.
I am
hungry, Raven told her.
She yawned again. We know. So are we. But what can we do? None of us can sleep, for the stars burn too brightly, and we cannot work for tiredness.
Raven put his shiny black head on one side and asked, It is the stars that keep you from sleeping?
The wise woman nodded, and nodded, and Raven had to poke her in the ribs to make her answer.
It is the stars, she agreed.
If
that is all, Raven said, and flew away.
Raven flew up, up, up, into the sky, up through the fields of stars. He perched on the moon, considered the problem, and this is what he did.
He flapped his powerful wings, harder and harder, and he blew the sun farther away from the earth. As the light and the heat grew farther and farther away, the stars froze stiff.
Then Raven flapped his wings again, and the wind from his wings sent a quarter of the stars tumbling out of the sky. He flapped them again, and another quarter of the stars fell. That seemed to him to be enough, and he flew back to earth.
The People were standing outside their houses in wonder, for the sky had grown dark and the air had grown cold, and then sparkling things had begun to fall down upon them, covering the land in whiteness. And they celebrated, for though it was cold, it was finally dark, and they could get some rest.
After some time, though, the wise woman came to Raven and said, Now the bushes bear no berries, because it is too cold for them. Bring the sun back, so that we can grow food again.
And this Raven agreed to do, though he warned that if he brought the sun back, the stars would begin to grow again.
The wise woman shrugged and told him, When the stars take over the sky again, you can take the sun away.
You are very demanding, Raven grumbled, for he could be a lazy bird.
We will give you berries and meat all year round if you will do this, said the wise woman, and Raven agreed to bring the sun back and to take it away again.
And that is why, every year, it is warm in the summer, but bright even in the nighttime, for the stars are growing and blossoming in the sky. And it is why, every year, it grows cold and dark as the stars fall to the earth as snow.
And it is why we never forget to leave some food for Raven, for we would not want him to forget to make the snow fall and let us get some rest.
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