Week 9 Storytelling: The Journey to the Sunrise

The sun rose every day but nobody really knew why it did that. There were always many different stories told as to why this awesome phenomenon would occur, but all stories were somewhat unbelievable. One day six young men decided to set off on a journey to figure out why and how the sun did this.  They began packing for a long journey ahead because they knew it would take them most of their lives to figure out the answer.  The elders told them to beware of the journey ahead of them, a warning that they did not take lightly. The elders knew that there was danger ahead, for they had heard stories of people long ago going off to search for the same thing and never coming back. They had finally gotten everything ready for the long trek, and the next morning they took off on this seemingly impossible passage to discover what caused the sunrise. 

They walked for weeks on end, running into tribes that they had met and done business with before. At each tribe they would stop and trade stories with the people, and then move on. As they went further, they began running into tribes that they had only heard of, but had not actually ever met or done business with. They still talked to them as well and traded stories, learning a lot more about the world and what went on in different tribes throughout it. As the journey continued, they began running into things that they had never heard of, things that weren't even human. 

This is a picture of a sunrise. Web source: Wikipedia

They weren’t different tribes, but instead creatures of their darkest imaginations. They were some of the meanest creatures they had seen in their lives. These creatures were here to protect the sun from ever being reached by man. They were forty-foot tall beasts with twenty or more eyes and purple slime dripping everywhere. The boys, who had now grown into men from how long this journey had taken, decided to continue to go through the beasts. They knew they had gone too far to turn around now. They made it through the first wave of beasts and ghouls, but to their surprise, the army of creatures was bigger than they had ever imagined. There was wave after wave of beast, each one being bigger and scarier than the last.

The group of men perished when they reached the third tier of creatures - further than any other man had ever gone. Although they didn’t make it to see how the sunrise came about, they did learn about every culture along their way. They began their journey as young, ignorant boys and finished their journey as old and knowledgeable men. They had lived their lives to the fullest, and enjoyed their amazing quest to find the sunrise. Once their bodies had gone into the ground where they rest, they too became creatures of the sun. They would now help to protect the very thing they hoped to discover before. For now, they understood that some things are better to be left unknown. 

 

Author’s Note:

 I wrote this story based upon The Journey to the Sunrise. In the original story, the boys set off and did the same thing, running into multiple different tribes on their journey to the sunrise. The boys in the original story made it to the sun though. They found out the sun comes out of a door every morning. When they tried to go into the door, one of the men died. The survivors then went back to their home. By the time they were home, they had become old men, but had actually gotten to figure out where the sunrise came from. I decided in this story to make them not make it to the sun. I added all of the different creatures to protect the sun as well. I just thought this would put an interesting twist on the story, as well as leave the sun as a mystery. I thought it would also be a good touch to make them become protectors of the sun after they passed. Making the journey to the sun made them aware that some things are best left unknown. You can find the original story here: Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney (1900).