The Girl who Stole the Sun

A long time ago, in the enchanted valley of Obernon, their was a village where the sun always shone. In the village of obernon there was no night, no darkness and no cold.

There was only the warmth of an eternal, never-ending day.

The villager's of Obernon lived a life of comfort, gaiety and merriment. Their bellies were always full, the sky was always a splendid Alice blue, and the weather was always warm and cordial. The people's smiles would never falter as they would go about their day, blissfully unaware to the hardships life's hands had to offer.

But one day that all changed...

On a morning like any other, the people of Obernon looked up to see a huge shadow passing over the sun.

The Shadow belonged to the three black-eyed ravens: Despair, Wraith and Greed. They had spread out their ebony feathers, opened their hungry beaks and devoured the suns warmth whole.

The eldest of the ravens turned to the frightened villagers and croaked in a deep, thundering voice:

"For too long we have suffered for our existence. Cursed to be hated by our nature. Left abandoned, despised or feared. Now the world will share in our Plight. Now the world will come to know the darkness of our solitude, and the cold of our misery. For a world without the sun is a world without joy indeed."

With that the three black-eyed ravens soared into the eve and disappeared from sight...

The people of the village soon despaired as their world turned dark and gloomy. Without the dancing sunlight there was only night.

The night was so cold that the crops withered, wrinkled and died.

In their lonely sunless exile the searching eyes of Obernon’s people one by one became filled with a deep-set melancholy.

Winters passed and soon the land became a frozen, ice cold wasteland.

Without their leaves, the branches of skeletal trees looked like bony fingers tearing at the darkening heavens.

The water in the riverbed became solidified and frozen, trapping fish in its verglas.

Even the sweet butterflies neglected the spoiled flowers. In their absence the rose-red ibises soon shrivelled in clusters like wrinkled cheeks.

The villagers prayed for a miracle and one day there hopes were answered. An angel of solace descended in the village square, bearing a child wrapped in white fine linen:

“This child was born from the heavens," the angel spoke in an ancient, wizened voice. "Treat her warmly and she will give you light to see by even on the darkest night. She has a heart made from the warmth of the sun. Eyes made from the hope of the stars and a voice made from the lullaby of the moon.”

The people gathered eagerly around the child. She had a little flower-like face set with wide luminous eyes, rosy cheeks and an ornamental tuff of brown hair. When her lips curled into a smile, her whole cherub-like being radiated with multicoloured hues of sunshine. A beam of air passed the villager’s, ricocheting colours of pure gold across the sunless town. The infant’s radiance was so bright that it lit up the darkness of the land like a beacon. Rumour had it that her light outshone even the loveliest of evening stars. Around her, the shadows of dark began to recede, crawling anxiously away like cowering vermin.

The people of Oberon rejoiced in amazement as soon the cold ice and darkness that cloaked the land began to melt away.

Years passed and the child grew into a young, amicable girl. The light of the stars glowed like an aura around her being, and her brown hair became as pale as moonlight.

The people of the village would follow her wherever she ventured, guided by her kindness like a moth to a light.

As promised, the child restored warmth once again to the village of Obernon. Farmers would ask her to tend to their crops and the girl would stand for hours, allowing the warmth of her smile to coax the vegetation to grow. If anyone was ever in trouble she did not hesitate to lend a helping hand or offer what resources she could. The children of Oberon, who had grown afraid of the dark, no longer feared the night as they walked beside her.

She was a child of light born from the darkness.

For the kindest people do not just exist. They choose to soften where circumstances have tried to harden them.

However, despite the grandeur of her gentle soul the girl soon found that there was not enough of her kindness to share among the whole village.

Ravens would roam in the crevices of shadows, waiting to frighten the villager's as soon as she was out of sight.

Her light could not reach everywhere…could not protect everyone…forever.

The girl, who could not leave the people of Oberon unprotected, resorted to chopping off her own limbs to share among the crying villager’s. Pieces of her were scattered and distributed among the people of Oberon like amulets of protection.

One day it was an arm. Another day it was a leg...

She offered her heart to one child who’s hands were damaged with frostbite so that the warmth of her heartbeat would always heal him from the night's cold…

She offered her eyes to an elderly woman who had lost all hope so that she would always see the light...

And lastly she offered her voice box to the village bully so that his cruel words would become as sweet as honey... She had sacrificed her life to bring joy to everyone once more.

After many years of living like that, the girl had given everything away but for one torso. With no heart, no eyes and no voice the warmth of her being began to fade. It was then the angel of solace approached her once more:

"For spreading your warmth and not your pain I have bestowed upon you eternal light." The angel transformed the girl into the setting sun.

From that day onward the girl rose with the dawn each morning, allowing her sunshine to fall with romantic affection across the valley slopes and chasms. Even the darkest crevices could not evade her glow. Their she sat, perched like a queen among the imperial clouds providing the world with the breathless beauty of the day from high above.

While she ruled the day, after every twelfth hour the three black-eyed ravens: Despair, Wraith and Greed, would descend the skies and devour the sun in their hungry beaks once more. Without the sun the day would end and night would begin.

And yet the nightfall did not last forever. Thanks to the angel's blessing, the girl would always be be reborn as the rising dawn.

And so the dualism between night and day, light and dark, evil and good was created. A twisted cycle as old as time…for after every moment of darkness there always follows the light.