The Girl Who Became the Moon

A long time ago, before there was the moon and the sun, there lived a young Eskimo boy. He lived in darkness, broken only by the light of the stars, out on the plains of ice that were swept with harsh winds day and night " though there was no difference in the two without the sun and the moon - sheltering in a hole in the ice. His life was not that exciting, and often he would sit and stare up at the sky full of stars and pass the long hours making them into shapes.  He wished for a purpose, hoping that with one would be the chance that he would not be alone. For his life was a lonely one, and he had only dreamed of a time where he was happy. Oh he had everything he needed to survive; spears for hunting, rods for fishing. A flame that he kept out of the wind, fed by the brittle and bare skeletons of trees that clung to the ice with their roots anchored deep in chasms. These he could use to live, but did he want to live?

One night he dreamt, dreamt of a beautiful woman walking on the plains. Her hair was white, and shined like the stars he had stared at for countless hours. She wore a shift of the skins of the great bears of the north and a cloak of the fur of the winter fox. Shod in boots of seal skins, she walked on. Brilliant blue feathers hung braided in her hair, draping her gentle face. But her eyes were full of tears, rolling slowly down her cheeks. The young Eskimo then woke, wondering who she was, for surely she must be real. His mind could never make something like that up on its own. That night as he crawled into his cave he though of her again.

Once again he dreamt, but this time his dream was of a lake surrounded by ice. The surface was calm, not even a ripple disturbing its still image. In the lake he could see the sky reflected. The stars, instead of dancing in the sky, were dancing in the lake. He wondered where this lake was, for in all his days he had never seen it. Though that was not saying much as he never traveled far, for worry he could not find his way back to his home. While watching the lake he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. It was the woman with white hair. She walked over to the lake and knelt, looking out over the span of water. What she was looking at, or for, he did not know. The young Eskimo awoke.

For many nights he had the same dream. And in al of his dreams the woman was still looking out over the lake. After ten recurrences he made up his mind. He packed his belongings and went hunting once more. He stored the food he caught with his belongings and, donning a coat made of fox fur, set out on the ice in search of that lake.

On and on he walked, over miles and miles of ice, stopping only to eat briefly and rest. After days and nights of walking he arrived at the lake. But this was not the right end. He gathered his belongings once more and set off around the lake. After a day he saw on the skyline, the woman with the white hair. Walking over to her he took her hand. Greeting him she took his hand and together they walked into the lake. Brilliant lights lit up the sky. One was a pale white, and glowed softly in the night sky. And the other was a fiercely shining ball of fire. With this, the sun and the moon became known all around the world. They all had different names for them, but to the Eskimo boy the moon is the white haired woman, and to her he is the Eskimo boy.