How Night Came [Fairy Tales From Brazil]
Years and years ago at the very beginning of time, when the world had just been made, there was no night. It was day all the time. No one had ever heard of sunrise or sunset, starlight or moonbeams. There were no night birds, nor night beasts, nor night flowers. There were no lengthening shadows, nor soft night air, heavy with perfume.
In those days the daughter of the Great Sea Serpent , who dwelt in the depths of the seas,
married one of the sons of the great earth race known as Man
. She left her home among the shades of the deep seas and
came to dwell with her husband in the land of daylight. Her eyes grew weary of
the bright sunlight and her beauty faded. Her husband watched her with sad
eyes, but he did not know what to do to help her.
"O, if night would only come," she
moaned as she tossed about wearily on her couch. "Here it is always day,
but in my father's kingdom there are many shadows. O, for a little of the
darkness of night!"
Her husband listened to her moanings. "What
is night?" he asked her. "Tell me about it and perhaps I can get a
little of it for you."
"Night," said the daughter of the Great Sea Serpent , "is the name we give to the heavy
shadows which darken my father's kingdom in the depths of
the seas. I love the sunlight of your earth land, but I grow very weary of it.
If we could have only a little of the darkness of my father's kingdom to rest
our eyes part of the time."
Her husband at once called his three most
faithful slaves. "I am about to send you on a journey," he told them.
"You are to go to the kingdom of the Great Sea Serpent
who dwells in the depths of the seas and ask him to give you some of the darkness
of night that his daughter may not die here amid the sunlight of our earth
land."
The three slaves set forth for the kingdom of
the Great Sea Serpent . After a long dangerous journey
they arrived at his home in the depths of the seas and asked him to give them
some of the shadows of night to carry back to the earth
land. The Great Sea Serpent gave them a big bag full
at once. It was securely fastened and the Great Sea Serpent
warned them not to open it until they were once more in the presence of his daughter,
their mistress.
The three slaves started out, bearing the big
bag full of night upon their heads. Soon they heard strange sounds within the
bag. It was the sound of the voices of all the night beasts, all the night
birds, and all the night insects. If you have ever heard the night chorus from
the jungles on the banks of the rivers you will know how it sounded. The three
slaves had never heard sounds like those in all their lives. They were terribly
frightened.
"Let us drop the bag full of night right here where we are and run away as fast as we can," said
the first slave.
"We shall perish. We shall perish, anyway,
whatever we do," cried the second slave.
"Whether we perish or not I am going to
open the bag and see what makes all those terrible sounds," said the third
slave.
Accordingly they laid the bag on the ground and
opened it. Out rushed all the night beasts and all the night birds and all the
night insects and out rushed the great black cloud of night. The slaves were
more frightened than ever at the darkness and escaped to the jungle.
The daughter of the Great Sea
Serpent was waiting anxiously for the return of the slaves with the bag
full of night. Ever since they had started out on their journey
she had looked for their return, shading her eyes with her hand and gazing away
off at the horizon, hoping with all her heart that they would hasten to bring
the night. In that position she was standing under a royal palm tree, when the
three slaves opened the bag and let night escape. "Night comes. Night
comes at last," she cried, as she saw the clouds of night upon the
horizon. Then she closed her eyes and went to sleep there under the royal palm
tree.
When she awoke she felt greatly refreshed. She
was once more the happy princess who had left her father's kingdom in the
depths of the great seas to come to the earth land. She was now ready to see
the day again. She looked up at the bright star shining above the royal palm
tree and said, "O, bright beautiful star, henceforth
you shall be called the morning star and you shall herald the approach of day.
You shall reign queen of the sky at this hour."
Then she called all the birds about her and said
to them, "O, wonderful, sweet singing birds, henceforth I command you to
sing your sweetest songs at this hour to herald the approach of day." The
cock was standing by her side. "You," she said to him, "shall be
appointed the watchman of the night. Your voice shall mark the watches of the
night and shall warn the others that the madrugada
comes." To this very day in Brazil we call the early morning the madrugada . The cock announces its approach to the waiting
birds. The birds sing their sweetest songs at that hour
and the morning star reigns in the sky as queen of the madrugada
.
When it was daylight again the three slaves
crept home through the forests and jungles with their empty bag.
"O, faithless slaves," said their
master, "why did you not obey the voice of the Great Sea
Serpent and open the bag only in the presence of his daughter, your
mistress? Because of your disobedience I shall change you into monkeys.
Henceforth you shall live in the trees. Your lips shall always bear the mark of
the sealing wax which sealed the bag full of night."
To this very day one sees the mark upon the
monkeys' lips, where they bit off the wax which sealed the bag; and in Brazil
night leaps out quickly upon the earth just as it leapt quickly out of the bag
in those days at the beginning of time. And all the night
beasts and night birds and night insects give a sunset chorus in the jungles at
nightfall.
