Chapter 16
These are the myths that were heard by Roland and his friends during the mythtelling in the moon.
Order And Chaos
There were once two sisters called Order and Chaos. They fought continually and their rivalry never faded, even when they grew up.
Order tried to contain Chaos by putting her in a box, then she decided to kill her by throwing the box into The Great River, but the box broke open on the rapids and Chaos escaped. Out of the bits of the box Chaos fashioned a weapon to kill Order.
She beat Order to death and threw her body into The Great River, but when Order was gone she wept at the emptiness that was left where once her sister had been. The Great River heard her crying and restored Order to life. Once this was done they resolved never to fight again but to join together and work on something together that would keep them from fighting. Their answer was to create the world, with its careful balance of Order and Chaos, so that both sisters could be happy, each have what they wanted and learn to compromise with each other.
The Great River
As the world grew the Great River found it was a good place to flow through, but it was unruly and ill-disciplined. Sometimes it went this way, sometimes that. When it flowed along its normal path the plants grew and the people were happy. But if the river flowed too much in one place people drowned and plants and animals were swept away, if it stopped flowing in a place then there was drought and the people died of thirst and hunger.
Order and Chaos sat down to plan the path of The Great River so that everyone could be sure where it would flow, where its water would be most useful and to stop it harming anyone. But The Great River was older than Order and Chaos, and disliked being told what to do by them. In protest it stopped flowing altogether, causing much suffering and death. It stored up its water, then let it out again, causing a great flood and yet more suffering. It flooded the whole world killing most of the people and creatures on it.
So Order and Chaos decided to break up The Great River. They divided it into many different rivers and streams so that it could not destroy the whole world again, and would be useful to everyone, everywhere.
The Whales Of The Sky
Once the earth flooded to such a depth that the waters reached the moon, and the moon became an island in the Sea of the Earth.
Many people drowned, but many were saved by the great whales who carried them up to the moon where some made new lives, whilst others chose to go back down to the Earth when the waters had subsided.
In gratitude for saving their lives the moon-dwellers granted the whales the wisdom of the moon, and called them "moonwise". The whales took the wisdom of the moon and used it to evolve. They chose the freedom of the air over the freedom of the water, and whenever they took to the sky of a night-time, and looked upon the shining moon, they said, “We are moonwise.”
The Thief Who Stole the Sun
There was once a thief who stole the sun. He plucked it from the sky and put it in his pocket, then took it deep underground to his lair where no one else dared to go, where he grew precious jewels and forged precious metals.
Without the sun the world was a dark, cold and barren place so the tribe asked their greatest hunter to find the sun again. She took to the winter sky and sought for it throughout the stars, then she took to the earth and searched for it from one end of the world to the other. Finally she looked underground and found the thief’s lair. After a fierce battle she returned the sun to its rightful place.
But the thief was angry at being robbed of his prize. He made thunder in the earth which caused the ground to shake and the mountains to spew boiling red rivers.
The people were frightened by this display, so they sent the hunter back down into the underworld to bargain with the thief. It was agreed that the sun would spend the days above ground, and the nights below, and that the sun would shine above ground for longer in the summer, and below ground for longer in the winter.
So, everyone was satisfied.
“Catchfire”
“Catchfire” was not his birth name, but it was what the tribe came to call him. One day he had returned from the woods bearing a stick on which a flickering, dancing flame was perched like a bird. The others did not know how fire was made, and when the weather was cold, they were cold, and they always ate meat raw
“How have you got fire to perch upon a stick, like a bird?” Catchfire was asked.
He told how he been in the forest and the suns rays had shone down, strong and bright, through the fluttering leaves. Within them he had seen tiny fires hovering and flittering, like a swarm of insects.
He had chased them, leaping up to try and catch one. The first time he caught one it had been too hot for his hands and he had let it go with a cry. Then he had thought of making something to trap them out of leaves and a branch, but the moment he caught one the trap burned and the fire escaped. Then he found that a part of the fire had remained on the branch, so he brought it home.
He showed the tribe how to make the fire grow by putting one stick beside another so that the fire spread to it, then to another stick, then another. So the tribe learned how to build a fire to keep them warm, and learned how to cook meat and boil water.
Sometimes the fire went out, however well it was minded. It could not be helped when it rained heavily or the wind blew. Then Catchfire went into the woods and returned with another fire, freshly caught, its young life burning brightly at the end of a stick. Sometimes the others went out into the forest and looked for the clearing with the fires, but could not find it.
“How do you catch fire? Where do you catch it?” the others asked, “We must know, for when you die, as you one day must, we will not know how to catch the fire.”
But he refused to reveal his secret.
One day, two of the children decided to follow him into the woods. There they saw him, not leaping to clutch fire out of the sun’s beams, but crouching on a mound rubbing twigs and sticks together until a flame appeared and grew. They ran back to tell their parents, and showed them how it was done.
When Catchfire returned his secret was known, but the people were not angry. He had given them fire, and they were not angry at him for wanting to keep his secret.
How the Gods Died Out
As Order and Chaos mixed together they reached out beyond themselves and the world they had created. Chaos reached the heavens and mingled with the gods, so that their perfection was diminished and they descended to the earth. They walked amongst mortals until, eventually, they themselves became mortal. One by one they died, and as they died they became the dust itself, which spread throughout the cosmos, filling it with their spirit.
The Great Stith
The people of the world were once a single tribe, and they only had one story. They never tired of hearing it, and made up different versions until they realised that they had made two stories. As there were now two stories the people who told one of the stories became one tribe, the people who told the other story became another tribe.
Soon there were more than two stories, and more than two tribes. The stories increased and divided, and the tribes increased and divided and spread across the world.
One day the Great Stith looked at all the stories from across the world and saw that all the stories had parts that were the same as parts in other stories. People across the world were all telling the same stories but in different ways. Now the people of the world could see that although they told many different stories, they were really the same stories, and that people everywhere were all the same.
Those were the myths that were heard by Roland and his friends during the mythtelling in the moon.
“That was beautiful,” Oliver said.
“It was okay,” said Savitri, “You should hear the Upanishads.”
“Even Stith the Myth got a mention,” said Botherworth, approvingly.
“One day, I shall write poetry,” said Oliver
“You were born to be
a poet, Oliver, I swear, and I ways knew it,” Roland told him.
After the mythtelling they ate, then slept, then woke, then waited. They ate and slept and waited again, then again. They wished for another game of Ogleforth just to pass the time, but there was only more eating, sleeping and waiting. Then, as they were beginning to despair, a messenger from the Great Mistress of the Lighthouse arrived to summon Roland to her presence.
“A sun sentinel has answered our request,” she told him.
“Will it take us to the sun?” Roland asked, delighted but anxious.
“Yes it will.”
“Great!” said Roland.
The Great Mistress of the Lighthouse lent forwards, “You must understand how this will be done. The sentinels are able to wrap a piece of darkness within them, to carry it within them. It is an essential ability they have that enables them to foster life at the boundaries – creatures that can be used in the fight against the darkness.
‘Because they are so contaminated with darkness they are not allowed within the inner limits of the sun – that is to approach The Very Hearth which is the capital of the sun — where you must go. They are not even allowed to be heard by those within the sun, in case of infection, so the sentinel cannot mediate for you.
‘It will wrap you within itself, in the coolness and shade within it, then you will be shielded from the great heat and light of the sun. Now you must remember, never to look at the sun without its shielding – not even from the earth as you will be blinded by its light. That is not magic but science.”
‘You will find that the Great Council will be focused on their great war between light and dark and care little for the people in between. They do not care, right now, that mixtures of light and dark, heat and cold are necessary for most life. If they had their way they would end up destroying it.”
“Then surely they are our enemies as much as anyone?” Roland cried, astonished and horrified at this revelation.
“Not really,” replied the Great Mistress, reassuringly, “They are rational, amenable, not motivated by hate, as the creatures of the darkness are. The flames may yet come to understand and back down. The creatures of the darkness never will. As I say, the flames have allowed the sentinels to foster creatures at the edges – such as yourself – to use as proxies in the fight. The creatures of the darkness have done the same, as you have experienced for yourself. This is your strength; you are part of their fight and they are bound to help you in some way, even if they don’t see it at first. You must make them see it, make them understand your cause and its importance; use all your powers of speech and persuasion – use them as you would a weapon against a foe!”
Roland gulped, unsure he would be up to such a challenge.
The Great Mistress continued, “As the sentinel will not be able to take you right into The Very Hearth there is something else you must have – come with me.”
She rose from her throne and led Roland down through a doorway and down a narrow passage. The passage led to stairs which spiralled downwards, deep into the moon. Here there was a cavern, filled with dim but unearthly light. At its sides, low down, were pools of darkness, as if radiated from a source too dark to see. The Great Mistress led Roland to one of these pools and suggested he put his hand into it. He did so and felt something soft. He gripped it and pulled it out. He saw that it was a tiny, dark blue flower which he had picked and now held in his hand. It radiated darkness as a torch radiates light.
“They are Moon gentians – The Great Mistress said, “They were Pluto’s gift to the world, brought here to the moon by the Whales of the Sky. Now they grow only on the moon. No other gentian is like them. Take a gentian with you – and one for each of you friends. When you leave the protection of the sun sentinel, these flowers will wrap you in their own shade and they will even keep you safe in the heat and light of The Very Hearth.
“These tiny flowers?” Asked Roland, sceptically.
“Yes, they are tiny but with great power.”
“But if they spread darkness – aren’t they evil?” Roland asked.
“They are of the darkness, but have no will of their own. They are just plants, and can serve anyone’s purpose. They will protect you – but they will also draw upon you all the defensive forces of the sun. These forces will view you as a contamination, as an enemy, they will be enraged by the shadow the flowers cast. You will see the warriors of the sun at their fiercest and they will come at you with no mercy in their hearts. All of the furious energy, heat and light of the sun will be against you. Do not be daunted, they cannot get into the shadow, just hold the flowers high and keep to the centre of the shadows they cast. Do this and even the most ferocious flames cannot harm you. You must thus make your way to The Very Hearth. Now, pick a flower for each of your fellows,” The great mistress instructed.
Roland did so.
“Now it is time for you to meet the sentinel,” she said.
She took him to yet another large cavern. In the cavern was a, huge flame, many times the height of a man. The flame almost had the appearance of a living creature in the way it moved and the shapes it occasionally formed. Sometimes, as Roland looked more closely, he almost thought he saw a face in its flickering flow. He also noticed that the flame seemed to be stooping, as if bent by sadness.
“This is Lumenfarge,” said the Great Mistress.
“Hello,” said Roland.
The flame spoke with a voice that was very odd. It was a contradiction in terms, like a booming whisper, very loud and very soft, all at the same time. It said, “So you are Roland, and you want to go to the sun.”
“Yes, I am Roland, and yes, I do want to go to the sun.”
“I’ve wanted to go to the sun for a very long time,” the flame said.
“That’s good,” said Roland, pleased that the sentinel had its own reasons for wanting to go.
“No. No, it isn’t,” said the flame, and its upper part seemed to wobble from side to side, as if it were shaking its head very sadly, “I have been homesick, homesick and sad for so long – so very long. And I can only stay home for a very short time, then I must go back to my dull and lonely existence at the frontier of light and dark.”
Roland tried to think of something positive to say –‘there must be a bright spot somewhere’ hardly seemed appropriate when talking to a living flame.
“And I cannot go to The Very Hearth again, ever,” the flame continued, because of the stain of darkness I now carry inside me.”
“I am sorry,” Roland said, “But I understand that that will help us – it will protect us, so I am told.”
“Yes,” Lumenfarge said, “Good can even come out of bad, or at least from a mixture of the two…”
“Well err… good, I suppose,” said Roland, unsure really what to say. “As long as something good comes out in the wash. Now, are you willing to take my friends too?”
“As many as need to go.”
“Great! There are five of us – and here are the others, just in time!”
A messenger had been sent to fetch Roland’s comrades and they now entered the chamber. Roland went over to them, “This is Lumenfarge, the sentinel who will be taking us to the sun.”
“A flame with a name!” Oliver quipped, “Now there’s a turn up!”
Roland shot him a look, indicating that levity wasn’t appropriate just now.
“He seems to have a few prob’s,” Roland said quietly, confidentially, so Lumenfarge wouldn’t hear, “Let’s take it easy, shall we…”
Botherworth went up to Lumenfarge and stared into his flowing, flickering body, plainly fascinated.
“I understand it’s rude to stare,” objected Lumenfarge.
“Sorry,” said Botherworth, continuing to stare, “Didn’t know flames had feelings.”
“Well we do. You might at least introduce yourself,” said Lumenfarge.
“Sorry. My name is Ebenezer – Mister Botherworth to my friends. Those over there are my friends: Ol
iver, Savitri and Brother Goodwill. So what’s it like being a flame, then?”
“It’s a lonely life,” the flame said, dolefully, “At least for a Sentinel. All I do is sit out on the edge of the light watching the darkness – watch, watch, watch is all I ever do…, then more watching. I never see any action!”
“What you wanna see action for – you might get killed!”
“Better than just sitting and watching…” Lumenfarge said, “Better that than being miserable…”
Even Botherworth wasn’t prepared to go along with that one. He said, “I think you need to speak to a friend of mine…”
He called over to Brother Goodwill, “Brother Goodwill! Can you do something to cheer this bright spark up?”
“Oh yes! Gladly!” said Goodwill, positively leaping towards them.
“Been tried before,” Lumenfarge said.
“Ah, but we’ve got the experts on hand now,” Botherworth said.
“You must work on it as we go,” said Roland, “There is no time to wait. Can you take us now?” he asked Lumenfarge.
“Yes,” said Lumenfarge, and with that the side of the flame split from his base upwards to form a doorway into him, “Enter,” he said.
Roland thanked the Great Mistress of the Lighthouse for all her help, then he and his fellow adventurers entered the sentinel. Inside Lumenfarge it was cool and light, neither too hot or too bright for them. They could still see the outside through the thin film of flame wrapped around them.
“Can you breath?” Lumenfarge asked.
“Yes,” said Roland.
“Not too warm? Not too cold?”
“No. No, not too anything.”
“Good. Are you ready?”
“Ready as ever likely to be,” Oliver said.
with that the flame rose up through the roof of the cavern, up into the sky of the moon. They looked down through the wall of flame, then up at the great cosmos and its panoply of stars and galaxies. Then the darkness inside Lumenfarge thickened to protect them and they turned towards the sun and accelerated.