Why the Sun Rises and Sets

A Story by Olivia

Cute little story about the origin of the sunrise

Why the Sun Rises and Sets

The stars used to all live together on earth, in harmony with the other plants and animals. The stars were beautiful creatures of pure light. They only feared one thing the Sun. He was a monster. He terrorized the planet, always hungry for stars. He would eat, and eat, and eat, from the moment he woke up and the second he went to sleep. The stars lived in constant fear. They didn’t dare shine their brightest, for fear that they would reveal themselves and be devoured. North Star, the leader of the stars knew that things could not go on like this. They had to find a way to rid themselves of the Sun.

The stars held a meeting while the Sun was sleeping. North Star devised a plan. While the Sun was asleep, all of the stars would jump up into the sky that was above them. There they would hide while the Sun looked for them. Everyone agreed that this was a brilliant plan. So, while the Sun slept, the stars rose from their sleeping place, and jumped into the sky.

The stars loved their new-found space. They were overjoyed to finally be free from their tormentor and able to shine as bright as they possibly could without fearing that the light they emitted would give away their hiding place. They danced and danced, forming patterns that looked like the animals they had left behind.

Not long after the stars’ flight to the heavens, the Sun woke up. Already thinking about his next meal, the Sun got up, stretched, looked around, and saw that he was alone. The Sun was confused. Where could the stars have gone? They had probably just found some clever hiding place so that he couldn’t find them. But the Sun was hungry. He needed to find some stars. Perhaps they were hiding just under the edge of the earth? The Sun crawled around the edge and looked everywhere. The Sun walked all night, starting in the West and going all the way to the East, but still he saw no sign of the other stars. North Star saw the Sun coming up over the East side of the earth.

“Quick! Hide!” He said. The stars dimmed themselves so that the Sun would not see them. The Sun came back up to the top of the earth without having found the other stars. He wondered if he would be able to see where the stars were hiding if he jumped up into the sky. Maybe they were hiding behind a mountain or in a valley.

The Sun jumped up into the sky, not as high as the stars had, just high enough to get a good view of the earth. The Sun was surprised with how much he could see. Rivers, trees, flowers, animals, mountains, caves, deserts, and fields passed quickly under him. Still, no stars. The Sun jumped so far that when he came down, he was back in the West. The Sun decided to check under the earth just one more time. Maybe he had just missed them. The stars brightened again while the Sun was under the earth. Once again the Sun searched the earth’s underside, and once again he found nothing. When the Sun came up and the stars hid themselves again, he decided to jump just one more time. After jumping, the Sun decided to give the bottom of the earth just one more look. Each time that the Sun looked, he told himself that he would look just one more time. The stars were so good at hiding themselves that the Sun never found them, and is still looking to this day, crawling under the earth and then jumping over it to get a better look.