A long time ago, there was no day and night on Earth. One half of Earth always had day time while the other half got light from the moon and was always in night mode.
In the half where it was always night, there was a forest in which there lived a tribe of monkeys. They were a menace to all the other animals. Slowly, the other animals shifted to other forests, to escape the monkeys.
All the monkeys, being naughty, enjoyed the forest being dark all the time (except for the moonlight of course). They could do as they pleased, and no one could tell anyone to stop as they could not see each other. They prayed to the Moon every fortnight, thanking him. The Moon liked these monkeys - unlike the Sun.
One day, the Sun asked the Moon, ‘Why do you give moonlight to these ungrateful monkeys? They do not behave well and they harass the other animals. You should stop helping them.’ The Moon replied, ‘the monkeys love me. And they ARE grateful to me. They pray to me. You can’t see that. I will do as I please.’
Even in those days, the Sun was as mighty as it is now. It got angry with the arrogant answer from the Moon. A heated argument followed. Finally, the Moon ran and the Sun chased it to teach it a lesson. The Moon ran around the Earth with the Sun chasing.
So, whenever the Moon came near a place, it was night. But the Sun was never far behind. It came chasing and the place experienced day.
Finally, the Sun got tired and stopped, but no one told the Moon that, for it still goes around the Earth, expecting the Sun to catch it any moment.
So, due to the force of speed that the Moon moved with, or rather moves with, the Earth started to rotate and revolve, and it still does. But the Sun stands still, laughing at the moon. This bought day, night and different seasons. But the monkeys still are mischievous to this day!
By Akshara
This story was published in the Hindu Young World on 18th June under 'Scrapbook' column.
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