Up in the sky, there lived two women. One of the women—a woman with pale, almost translucent, skin—was named Moon. Moon’s white hair was long and straight. Her hair would fall into her pale blue eyes as she sculpted the earth into great mountains. As she smoothed and shaped the dirt and rocks, the sea on the Earth would rise up towards her to watch her work. The other woman—a woman with warm, dark brown skin—was named Sun. Her dark brown eyes would crinkle as she smiled down at the flowers she grew and the animals she sewed together. The long black curls of Sun’s afro would blanket birds and other creatures as they perched on her shoulders to watch Sun’s skillful hands tend to nature.
Moon and Sun rarely crossed paths in the sky. Moon lived in the hours of the night while Sun lived in the hours of the day. But one day, while Sun roamed the sky in order to tend to her gardens on Earth, Sun stumbled across Moon in her slumber. The light from Sun’s radiant image shone down on Moon as Sun stared at her curiously which caused Moon’s eyelids to peel open. Her sensitive eyes burned as she looked up at Sun’s face. Even though Moon’s poor vision blurred Sun’s features, she could still see how beautifully Sun shone.
The two women fascinated each other; it was strange for them to see another who was both similar and very different to themselves. They would meet up in the hours of dawn and dusk to learn more about each other. They would sit together along the horizon and talk, Sun lying on Moon’s lap in order to look up at the woman’s face. Moon—who loved the warmth of Sun’s gaze—needed to wear a piece of cloth over her sensitive eyes to protect them after many days of looking at the woman.
The two were very different: Sun was bright and bubbly and warm while Moon was cold and quiet and calm. Sun’s voice, a loud voice that spoke with a tone as melodic as a bird’s song, filled the conversation as Moon listened with a soft smile. When Moon would join the conversation, her voice was soft and gravelly. Being opposites, one would expect the two women to not get along, but as they interacted, the women grew to love the beauty in their differences. As the phrase “opposites attract” predicts, the women fell deeply in love with each other.
The women loved to see each other. While they could not be together at all hours of the day as each woman had their own hours that they resided in, at every dusk and every dawn, the two would spend time together. One day, the two would walk hand in hand through the grassy fields that Sun brought to life. Another day, the two would stare up at the changing colors of the sky from the peaks of the mountains that Moon had sculpted. Yet another day, they would sit together at the horizon to watch the ocean that connected their crafts; Sun’s first creations were those in the ocean, and the ocean liked to watch Moon pull the earth up into mountains.
When the two reached the first anniversary of their relationship, they each prepared a gift for their lover. Sun crafted a small purple flower that would flower in the cold that Moon brought with her. The creatures Sun created for the Earth called the flower “the Crocus.” Moon would look down at and smile at the small flowers in the hours of the night to remind her of her lover. Moon made fresh water that would trail down her mountains to bring new water to the life that Sun created. Sun would think of her lover as she cooled her feet in the streams and brought the water to the plants and creatures she created.
However, despite the love the two had for each other, some love is not meant to be. As time went on, the two found that the differences that they had conflicted with each other. Sun, an affectionate woman, grew sad and anxious because of how Moon did not show her feelings. She began to worry if Moon truly loved her or if Moon simply wanted Sun to be happy. Moon, a solitary woman, grew drained over time with how Sun would want to see each other every day. She loved Sun and wanted to see her often, but between Moon’s sculpting and seeing Sun, she had no time left for herself. The two women loved each other dearly and tried to communicate their problems, but each attempt ended in disaster. Calm conversations turned into arguments, and even if they did not argue, they were unable to find a good resolution to their problems. Despite how they still loved each other, the women decided that they could not be together. They stopped meeting up in the hours of dawn and dusk so that they would not hurt each other more with their longing to be together.
Both women suffered through the loss of each other. Sun threw herself into her work; she crafted new plants and animals to fill the hole left in her heart from Moon. Moon shut down; she began to neglect her work—letting her mountains return back to the earth. While Moon was colder than Sun, she felt loss just the same. As she sat before her sculpted mountains, tears began to fall down her cheeks. The tears froze as they fell onto the peaks of her mountains, creating a blanket of what Sun’s creatures on Earth called “snow.”
The two women never did become lovers again. They each felt the wounds of losing each other scar over, but they knew that returning to each other would simply open up those wounds once again. However, on some days, the two reunite in the hours of the day. They reminisce on their past love for but a few moments before returning to their own places once again.
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