Honey Jar

WHEN GRANDMOTHER MOON and Grandfather Sun grew tired of dancing, they called Mother Earth and Father Sky over to them.

“We are very bored living alone in the universe. We made the stars, but they don’t speak. Now we want you to make creatures of all sizes and colors to bring joy to our hearts, so that there will be sounds in the universe, so that this huge black silence will become a symphony of colors, and everyone will live happily.”

“Of course, Grandmother Moon, Grandfather Sun,” said Mother Earth.

“So it shall be, Grandmother Moon, Grandfather Sun,” said Father Sky.

And as if they were children given clay to make figurines, they happily began to make all sorts of things. First, they created the sea, and the earth was covered with the blue waters of one huge ocean.

“And now that we’ve created the sea,” they said, “what shall we fill it with?”

“Fish!” they both said at once. And they amused themselves making fish, both large and small. The sea was like a huge party with all its creatures always on vacation!

The water of the sea was salty, and soon Mother Earth and Father Sky were thirsty. “Where will we find fresh water to drink?” they asked. There were no lakes, no rivers, no fountains – just a huge wide ocean!

So they spoke with their grandparents, who smiled and said, “To find fresh water, there must be land, and on this land springs, rivers and lakes.”

Mother Earth and Father Sky were very happy and, like children, they began to make meadows, mountains, volcanoes, hills, canyons, ravines and jungles out of clay. And trees, so many trees that they didn’t all fit on the land. And plants and herbs and flowers. The world was one huge green thicket. Even today’s deserts were full of vegetation back then. Here and there they created rivers of fresh water, where their faces could be reflected, and where the stones were as polished and shiny as brand new jewels. And Mother Earth stretched across all the land she had created and merged with it. That’s why Mother Earth is everywhere – she is the ground we walk on and the mountains we see.

For several centuries our grandparents were happy with what they saw, though they suspected that something was still missing. And it was true that something was missing, for while the ocean was a festival of flying fish, on the earth, plants and trees and flowers grew silently.

“The animals of the earth are missing!” Mother Earth and Father Sky cried together.