Finding The Sun

Everyone cherished and loved Summer, the Sun-Goddess. She was the most beautiful goddess and definitely the brightest. All of the people below loved her and worshiped her. Even all of the other Gods and Goddesses loved her. Her brother, the God of Fire, was the only one to quarrel with the Sun Goddess and felt much jealousy for her popularity. One day, Summer was sitting at the loom of the world, weaving in different pieces of life. She weaved into the pattern patches of joy and love with dismay and slaughter. All parts of life filled her loom. Suddenly, the God of Fire, Alexander, came down from the peak. He came with wrath and malice, tearing in from the void. Summer's brother's sudden appearance frightened her. She fled to the shadows of night in a cave to hide from the wrath of her brother and refused to return to the heavens. All the people mourned the disappearance of their beautiful goddess. Their bright star was gone and so the people begged and cried for her return. But she would not leave her cave and the people became even more upset. The people begged the gods and goddesses, “Bring back our bright and beautiful lady!”

Finally, another god, Damon, came forth to help. He made a beautiful mirror from gold and it shone brighter than any other. Damon then sent the Goddess of Laughter, Joy, to the Sun-Goddess's cave. Joy danced in the moonlight with wondrous passion. She twirled in the light from the moon with grace and celebrated with such spirit, spreading her cheer until Summer finally emerged. Summer was curious and confused as to the sudden performance and asked the Goddess of Laughter, "Why do you all celebrate? What is there to be so cheerful about?"

Joy told her, "We are praising the most beautiful princess. She is more beautiful than all the oceans and brighter than the sun. Come, look and see our beautiful princess." Summer looked into the mirror to see the princess. As Summer looked in, she saw exactly what Joy had described, a princess more beautiful than the oceans and brighter than the sun. Summer did not understand that the mirror showed her own reflection. Instead, she became filled with jealousy and anger because she thought she was looking upon a rival. Summer decided she must return to the heavens to prove that there were none brighter or more beautiful than she. So, Summer quickly fled the cave and returned to her loom in the heavens. Then, Micheal, the strongest god, rolled a large boulder in front, blocking her from ever returning to her cave again. Summer had been returned and the people had their Sun-Goddess again. She remained there all her immortal life, shining brightly down on the land below, bringing light to the people. The people rejoiced at the return of their wonderful Goddess of the Sun and sang songs filled with their love for the lovely Summer.

***Author's Note:

The original version of the story is written in a very poetic style with language that is not very common in modern speech. I also changed the characters' names to be more modern. Each name has some connection with their character's traits. The Sun-Goddess is Summer, because it tends to be the sunniest season. The Goddess of Laughter is Joy, because it is the emotion that fills you when you laugh. Micheal is the strongest god, because Micheal is supposed to be the strongest angel in the bible. In the story, the Sun-Goddess, named Amaterasu (Summer), is at the loom weaving the patterns of life, when her brother shows up. His entrance is described with wrath and fury and the Sun-Goddess flees from her brother. She hides in a dark cave of the night and the people cry for her return. Eventually, a god makes a mirror and sends the Goddess of Laughter, Uzume to coax Amaterasu into looking into the mirror. Uzume tells the Sun-Goddess that she is praising a princess more beautiful and bright than anything or anyone else. She tells Amaterasu that the princess can be seen by looking into the golden mirror. After Amaterasu looks into the mirror, she becomes jealous and returns to the heavens to reclaim her spot as the most beautiful and bright. The gods have Taji-karao roll a boulder over the entrance, so the Sun-Goddess can never run away again.

My version is simply the story rewritten in a way that is more modern and simpler. I decided to write it this way because I wanted it to become a story that a child could easily understand. The Miraculous Mirror reminded me of a few stories that I heard as a child and I wanted to make this one more like those. As I read the original story, I kept thinking of the fairy tales I grew up with, like Snow White. I also ended up changing the characters' names to make them more modern as well.

Bibliography:

"The Miraculous Mirror" from Romance of Old Japan, Part I: Mythology and Legend by E. W. Champney and F. Champney (1917)

Image: The Golden Girl