How the Moon Tricked the Sun

An ancient Indonesian myth of the Batak people, this is a sun and moon story. It looks like in the past, we had many suns blazing in the sky, according to yet another legend.

Our story begins a very long time ago after the great god Mula Jadi Na Bolon had sent his granddaughter Sideak Parudjar to create the earth and everything else that fills it. In the beginning, when Sideak Parudjar had just moulded it, the earth was slushy, gooey and wet. So Father Mula Jadi created nine suns, to light up the place and dry all the wetlands.

Father Sun and his eight sons blazed on and the earth was soon dry. But the searing heat was too much to bear for the earth and its people. It was only when dusk fell and the moon arrived with her children, the ten thousand stars, that they got some respite.

One full moon night, the people of the earth assembled on a plain together and prayed to the moon. ‘Beloved Moon Mother, you are the one who brings us some solace from the nine blisteringly hot suns that beat down upon us day after day. Please help us!’

Moon Mother was compassionate. ‘Dear people, I understand your difficulty but know that I’m no match for Father Sun and his eight children. But maybe I can manage to outwit him somehow. Come back here in another four weeks, when I’m whole once again. I’ll think of a plan.’

And so after twenty-seven days had passed, the people gathered at the same place and Moon Mother appeared before them in her full, luminous beauty. ‘Greetings! I have good news for you. I have come up with a plan but I need you to get me as many betel leaves as you can.’

Now, betel leaves were common in those parts and people chewed them all the time. It kept their mouths moist and helped them get through the parched heat of the day. They returned to their homes and collected all the betel leaves they had and gave them to Moon Mother. ‘Thank you. Now go home and wait, I will bring you good news soon,’ smiled Moon Mother.

After they had gone, Moon Mother went about collecting all the mist there was and built a huge wall of it. Behind this, she hid her ten thousand sparkling star children who found all this hide-and-seek business an amusing game. Then she put some betel leaves into her mouth and started chewing.

As she chewed and chewed, the thick, red liquid started oozing from her mouth. She went everywhere, spitting the juice all over the night sky, painting it a bloody red. Her mouth was red too and her chin was stained as the juice dribbled down.

When the morning arrived, Father Sun came with his eight sons in tow. As the sunlight brightened the morning sky, he saw to his great surprise that the whole place was painted red!

‘Looks like a massacre has taken place here! How many must’ve been killed? And by whom?’ asked he.

‘A massacre indeed!’ said Moon Mother helpfully. She was standing by, grinning wickedly as more red juice flowed down her chin. ‘It’s me. I killed all my children and ate them!’

Father Sun was stumped for a second but he quickly recovered and noted that Moon Mother didn’t seem in the least regretful of her act.

‘You . . . You ate all your children? Yes, I don’t see any stars around.’ ‘All ten thousand of them!’ said Moon, smiling some more. ‘How did they taste?’ asked Father Sun, still surprised but feeling, deep within himself, a brutal hunger.

‘Delicious, scrumptious, yummy!’ grinned Moon Mother as more red dribbed down her chin. ‘You should try it too. You have such big children and I’m sure they’ll taste just as good.’

Father Sun needed no more persuasion. Turning around, he grabbed all eight of his sons and ate them all, one by one! Now there was just one sun and no more. But after he ate all his sons, Father Sun became more powerful as he had absorbed all the heat and power of his sons too. All day, he blazed with an intense heat, filled with greed, hate and in the end, a hint of regret, maybe.

Finally, the night fell and Moon came out. Along with her came her ten thousand children, the stars who twinkled and twinkled. Father Sun saw them too and realized that he had been tricked by Moon.

‘What have I done now, in a foolish moment, listening to that wicked Moon Mother who tricked me? I have gone and killed my own sons and eaten them too! She shall pay for this, that Moon lady!’ Father Sun began to chase Moon Mother round and round and across the skies. Moon Mother ran as fast as she could but Father Sun managed to catch her and reduced her to almost nothing.

Escaping from the angry Father Sun, Moon Mother went into hiding so that he couldn’t see her. When she appeared in the night sky again, she was painfully thin and just a tiny sliver.

By and by, she grew and grew to become whole again, once more. The Batak people have a prayer. ‘Let not the Sun get hold of Moon Mother and eat her up. We need her and her soothing light. Oh, great gods, keep her safe! We love our Moon Mother, we do, we do!’