Read the folk tale Zummy loves
Why the Sun and Moon Live in the Sky
Sun and Water were the best of friends, until the night Water finally came to visit, and there was nowhere left for anyone to stand but the sky.
Long ago, when the sky still sat close enough to touch, Sun and Water were the best of friends. Sun lived in a fine round house at the edge of the village, and every evening Water came to sit with him at the door, and they talked until the stars came out.
One evening Water asked why Sun never came to visit him instead. Sun, a little embarrassed, admitted that his house was far too small. “If you and everyone in your family came inside,” he said, “the walls would surely give way.” Water laughed and said that was no excuse at all, and made Sun promise: if he ever built a house big enough, Water would come and fill it, just once, so the two of them could finally sit together under one roof.
A house big enough for the sea
Sun went home and told his wife, Moon, about the promise. Together they spent many days building the grandest house the village had ever seen, with walls of packed clay taller than the palm trees and a roof of woven thatch as wide as the village square. When it was finished, Sun sent word to Water: come, there is room enough now.
The water begins to rise
The next evening Water arrived, and with him came all his family and friends: the fish, the crabs, the turtles, and every ripple and current that had ever belonged to him. He poured in through the open door, gently at first, pooling around Sun and Moon’s ankles. “Is there still room?” Water called out. “Plenty,” Sun answered, and Water poured in a little more.
The water rose past their knees, then their waists, then their shoulders, fish darting between their feet. Each time, Water called out to ask if there was still room, and each time, not wanting to seem unwelcoming after such a fine promise, Sun said yes. By the time the water reached their chins, Sun understood, too late, that a promise made to the whole sea could never truly be kept indoors.
Climbing into the sky
With nowhere left to stand, Sun took Moon’s hand, and together they climbed, up through the thatched roof, up past the tallest palm tree, up until they had no choice but to keep climbing into the open sky itself. And there they have stayed ever since, Sun by day and Moon by night, looking down at their old friend Water, who still, on quiet evenings, rises gently toward the shore as if reaching up to say hello.
And that, the story says, is why the kindest promises are the ones we make with room enough to keep.
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Iya ni Wura
Play this softly while you read: a traditional handplayed Yoruba lullaby from Nigeria, the same culture this tale comes from.
More stories, more lullabies
This is one tale in a growing collection of traditional stories from around the world, each one paired, where we can, with a real lullaby from the same culture.