Stardust

"Do you know why there are stars in the sky?"

The old master asked his students the question without taking his eyes off the book. It was evening now, and his eyes were having trouble concentrating in the candlelight.

The boys sat on the ground in the schoolyard. One of them ventured an answer:

“To be able to orient ourselves on land and navigate the sea at night! “

"Excellent!" The master replied. “And do you know when they were born?”

“Were they born together with the Earth?” Another boy guessed.

"Not really..." the master specified. “It is a common misconception that planets and stars are born together. Not everyone knows stars were born after men and women started walking the Earth."

The boys watched the old man waiting for an explanation. He put his book aside and continued the story without needing to read what he had known for years.

“Many years ago the planets wandered in darkness, united by the strength of the sun, which as you know can illuminate only one face of the planets, while the other face falls into the night.

When the stars did not exist, humans could illuminate the night with fire, but having the light very close to them, the night sky was even more gloomy and dark.

Only the moon, with its kindness, illuminated the wayfarers. But moonless nights were the most feared because they plunged humanity into the deepest darkness.

At that time, planets were not as we know them today. Life was everywhere, from Venus to Mars, from Jupiter to Pluto, many colorful humans inhabited them.

One day the giants who ruled the universe began to quarrel. You know the planets are not the same size, they are colder or hotter, they have water or not, and so a war broke out.

Only one of the giants, patron of the Earth, decided to protect human beings, not just those of his planet. He built a large ship to give hospitality to the inhabitants of other planets, bringing as many of them as possible to safety right here.

The others considered him a traitor and a thief, they thought he wanted all those people to make them his subjects and so the gentle giant was captured and thrown into the sun.

The giant burned and while his last cry was lost in the universe, his body exploded in incandescent sparks that stood out in the sky.

The sparks continue to burn, they are bigger and smaller, closer and further away.

They help us orient ourselves, but most of all they remind us that we come from far away and that we live thanks to a great sacrifice.

Now we call them stars."

The boys listened in absolute silence. Only one asked:

"What happened to the other giants?"

"The other giants, blinded by the sparks, were condemned to wander in the darkest universe, thrown out of the solar system". The old man replied.

"Could they come back?" Another boy asked.

The old master looked up at the sky, now studded with brilliant stars, as if to find confirmation of his words:"Not while the burning stars guard our world. It is impossible for a giant to pass through the network of incandescent sparks".

The old master took the book, got up from the stool adjusting his tunic and left the young students to observe the sky with new eyes and feelings.

***

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