Once upon a time there was only the sun. Time consisted of a long day with the sun shining brightly.
It never set so there was no night. People worked until they were too tired and then stopped to rest. There was no set time for working or sleeping.
One day the Creator came to visit the world. He saw men working in fields. “When did you plough this field?” he asked.
“Today,” replied the men.
“When did you make the garden?”
“Today, of course,” they said.
The Creator walked on. He met a woman carrying a child in her arms.
“When was this boy born?” he asked.
“Today, Master,” said the woman bowing low.
Her other children came there too. “And when were these boys and girls born?” the Creator asked again.
“Today, of course,” said the woman in surprise, “why do you ask? There is only today.”
Then the Creator understood. The people had no sense of time because there was no day and night, no division of time.
Light and dark
He called out to the sun and said, “You must not remain in the sky all the time. You must set in the evening and rise again the next morning. When it is dark the people will know that it is the time for resting. When you rise again they will know that it is another day.”
The next day the sun set in the evening and the world grew dark.
The people did not understand what had happened. They were frightened and ran here and there. Some fell down. Some fell into ditches and hurt themselves. Women broke their vessels in the dark and there was total confusion.
Finally the oldest man said, “Lie down and rest, all of you. You can do nothing in this darkness.” Gradually people learned to think of the night as a time for sleeping.
They woke up when the sun rose and it was light. They also learnt to have regular hours of work and sleep. But there was one problem. Since they could see nothing after sunset they fell down, broke things and had accidents.
One day the Creator visited them again. “Are things any better now that you have both day and night?”
“Oh yes, Master,” they said. “But we cannot see when it is dark. So we get hurt. And lose things. Or break them. Can’t we have the sun for a little while longer?
“No,” said the creator, “you cannot have the sun but I shall give you another light. It will not be as bright as the sun but you will be able to see and walk. It will give you a nice, soothing light which will make life much easier for you.”
And then he created the moon which shone softly.
People could see but the light did not stop them from sleeping. It became an easy life with the sun in the day and moon at night!
(A Santhali folk tale)
