|
|
|
This is a myth I made up to go with my avatar in the avi arena. If it's still around, go vote for me! ^.^
Orihime, the star weaver, lived in the heavens. She would spend her days weaving the tapestry of stars for each night, changing the pattern a little each time. By night, she was free to wander the earth, entering the dreams of mortals and weaving her stars through their minds. The stars that she wove into dreams protected the sleeping mortals from nightmares and other night time frights brought on by demons.
Varuna, the god of the underworld, ruled over darkness and night. By day, he ruled the world of the dead, but by night, he covered the world in darkness and crept through the dreams of mortals, causing their minds to darken and be filled with terrifying thoughts.
One night, Varuna passed through a mortal mind that he could not darken. Seeking the reason for this, he found one bright star, woven into the tapestry of his dreams. Varuna flew into a rage. He killed the mortal and, carrying his soul down to the underworld, began to plot. He knew who was behind this star found in the mortal’s dreams. It was Orohime, the goddess who diminished the dark of night with her woven veils of stars. Now, she diminished the darkness in dreams with the same stars.
Varuna continued to rule the underworld by day, but at night, he sent his brothers and sisters to darken the dreams of mortals while he contrived a plan to destroy Orihime. One night, after many months of plotting, Varuna flew up to Orihime’s home in the heavens. There he waited for her to return from her night time wanderings.
When Orihime returned to her home, she sat down at her loom and began to weave the tapestry for the following night. As she wove the stars, she began to sing. Varuna, crouching in the shadows heard this beautiful song and was so moved that a single tear rolled down his cheek and fell to the floor.
Forgetting all he had contrived to do the night before, Varuna stepped from his hiding place and made himself known to Orihime. He gave to her the silver tear that had dropped to the floor as a gift, telling her to place it in the night sky with her tapestry of stars. Each night, the silver orb would diminish, until it was nothing more than a sliver in the sky. On the next night, there would be no bit of the tear left, but on that night, Varuna promised to return to give one more tear.
And so it continued that on every night that no moon shined, when the power of darkness was strong enough to permit Varuma to fly to the heavens, he would return to Orihime’s side to spend the day listening to her sing and with each trip, giving her one silvery tear.
Thus the night was given a light that waned with each passing day, until, on the darkest night, a new light was made.
~~~~~~~~~
It happened one month that a great plague struck the land and many mortals died. So many souls traveled to the Underworld that Varuna new he would not be able to leave to listen to Orihime’s song and to give her a new light for some time.
On the night that he was to meet Orihime, he said to Mitra, “Brother, go to the star weaver, Orihime, and tell her that my love for her remains, but my promise I am unable to keep. I must remain in the Underworld for a time, but I will soon return to her side.”
Mitra hurried to the heavens to Orihime’s home along the river. Upon hearing this message, Orihime was greatly troubled.
“What shall I do?” she asked. “The mortals have already grown accustomed to the light from the moon. How can I deny them the comfort of light in the midst of this terrible plague?”
“Might I make a suggestion?” asked Mitra. “Each night, the light wanes as bits of the moon fall as dew to the earth. If we send someone to collect this dew, perhaps we could place it in the tapestry of night, thus restoring light to the mortals for some time.”
Agreeing to this plan, Orihime quickly called her brother, Fujin. “Brother,” she pleaded, “I beg of you to do me this one favor. Cause the wind to blow all the dew up to the heavens, that I might place it in the tapestry of the night sky and give light to the mortals.”
“This is a mighty task,” replied Fujin. “It will take many days for all the dew to be gathered, but I promise that it shall be done.”
Fujin set out immediately to command the wind to gather the dew from all the leaves. The following evening, Fujin came to his sister and, removing the sack he carried over his shoulder, presented her with the dew gathered that day. Orihime placed the dew in her tapestry where the moon usually lay, but it only filled a small sliver of the empty space. Weaving the threads of the dark sky as tightly as she could, Orihime made sure that not one drop of the dew would fall this time.
And so, with each passing night, the moon grew in size as Fujin gathered more and more dew, until one night, all the dew had been gathered and the moon sat in the sky as full as the tears Varuna shed. However, because the dew from the tears had been so tightly woven, it became damaged and again began to fall from the moon, so that each night, the moon became smaller and smaller.
Fujin again gathered the dew and brought it to Orihime, but no matter how hard she tried, the dew could not be woven back into the tapestry of night.
Though the dew could no longer be placed in the sky, it was still precious to Orihime, so she placed it in a small silver box, given to her by Daikoku, which would hold any treasure, no matter the size.
Finally, on the night that all the dew had fallen from the moon and there was no great light in the night sky, Orihime sat in her chambers and wept for the mortals below.
Meanwhile, Varuna, seeing the darkened sky, decided that the time for him to see his lover could wait no longer. Leaving the twin judges, Kama and Kami, in charge of the underworld, Varuna flew to the heavens to spend to following day with Orihime. When he reached Orihime’s chambers, however, he was shocked to see her crying.
The sight of his lover’s pain moved him to sorrow and one small tear rolled down his cheek and onto the floor.
“Orihime,” he called, “Why do you cry?”
“It is because there is no light for the mortals,” she sobbed.
“Dry your tears, my love,” replied Varuna. “I have brought a new light for you to weave in your tapestry.” Saying this, he presented Orihime with the tear he had just shed.
“Now come,” he said. “Sing for me songs of gladness and wonder and I shall give you another tear. There are so many mortals living and dying on the Earth that I cannot come to lay by your loom as often as before, but continue to collect the dew from the moon to sew into your tapestry, but permit me one night of darkness in between, that I might sit by your loom and shed another tear for you, so that when the dew no longer clings to your tapestry, you shall have another moon to take its place.”
Orihime agreed and, turning to her loom, she began to sing as she lovingly sewed her lover’s tear into the night tapestry. As Varuna listened, one more tear fell from his eye, rolling onto the floor. Orihime took the new moon and placed it in a small golden box given to her by Daikoku, which would hold only one treasure, but would preserve the treasure so that when Orihime next opened the box, the treasure would be as new as it was on the day she placed it into the box.
When the time came, Orihime spread the tapestry of the night and Varuna was forced to retreat from the light back to the Underworld, waiting for the night when there would be no moon and he could see his lover again.
And so it continued. When the full moon waned and darkness fell, Varuna would fly to the heavens to listen to his lover’s song, shedding one tear, which Orihime would place in the golden box. On that same night, Fujin would begin to gather the dew, which Orihime placed in the tapestry of the night sky, but on the night that all the dew was had been gathered, instead of placing it in the tapestry, she placed it in a little silver box. And from a little golden box, she drew a new moon.
And that is why the moon waxes and wanes and why there must be one night of dark, so that we might have light on all other nights.
(The characters in this story are very very very very very very very loosely based on Hindu gods, Japanese kami, and the Japanese/Chinese story of Tanabata. The actual story is of my own creation.)
 garra_eyes · Thu Aug 09, 2007 @ 02:18am · 0 Comments |
|
|
|
|
|
