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For many years, the Sun and the Moon have been together. When the Sun was not around, the Moon would come out and helped provide light. And when the Moon went away, the Sun would come back out. They shared the same sky and both the Sun and the Moon were so ever close.
They both knew each other very well. The Sun knew all the little idiosyncrasies of the Moon, and the Moon knew the Sun’s as well. Perhaps that is why, one day, the Sun and the Moon had had about enough with each other, and started to quarrel and pointed out the imperfections of the other.
Said the Sun to the Moon, “You are never there on certain nights, and the sky will be so dark with only the stars lighting the way for travelers. Where, then, could you have gone to, when the lands below so needed your light!”
Said the Moon to the Sun, “You are always shining so brightly, perhaps too brightly at times. The thirsty travelers struggling and trudging through the dessert, and yet you still beat on them mercilessly with your rays!”
So the Sun accused the Moon of never shining brightly enough, and the Moon proclaimed that the Sun was always too harsh.
Finally, acknowledging that they both could never be at the same position in the sky at the same time, the Sun and the Moon decided to go their own ways.
The Moon then tried to befriend the Stars.
“You are always in the sky together with me,” The Moon told the Stars. “unlike the Sun, which is never around when I am out. We could shine together so brightly.”
Then the Stars and the Moon became friends and they both shone their light. However, whenever the Moon shone so ever slightly brighter, the Stars in the sky could not be seen.
“You are too bright,” Said the Stars in unison. “You illuminate the sky so greatly that the light we give of seem diminutive compared to you.”
Seeing how the Moon would outshine them, the Stars refused the friendship of the Moon.
The Sun, on the other hand, tried to befriend the Clouds.
“You are always in the sky together with me,” The Sun told the Clouds. “unlike the Moon, which is never around when I am out. Stay with me while I shine in the sky.”
Then the Clouds and the Sun became friends. However, sometimes the Clouds would all gather beneath the Sun, and they would completely block out the Sun’s light from ever reaching the grounds.
“There are simply too many of you,” the Sun said to the Clouds. “my rays are completely obstructed and none from below could receive my light.”
Seeing how the Clouds could sometimes turn the bright day sky so terrifying and dark, the Sun decided that friendship could not be found with them.
So the Moon and the Sun were alone once again.
It was then, one day, close to night, that they both coincidentally came across a shepherd tending to his herd upon the Great Plains.
Sensing the slight animosity between the Sun and the Moon, the shepherd questioned their problem.
The Sun and the Moon then started to tell the shepherd of the other’s imperfections, and of how the other was always not around.
Shaking his head so ever slightly, the shepherd looked up to the Sun, and then to the Moon. Slowly but surely, he began to speak.
“Why, we would all surely be unable to do without the both of your lights; so different, yet so alike.” The shepherd began. "How would the plants live without the Sun’s beams, be it so harsh, or the corals spawn without the full Moon, even though so dim? How then, would the farmer tend to his fields without the Sun’s benevolence, or the animals hunt without the Moon’s guidance? You say one is always away and you cannot be together, but aren’t the both of you now sharing the same part of the sky, albeit a brief moment?”
The Sun and the Moon thought about the shepherd’s words in silent for a little while. The sky began to grow a darker tint of orange, and the shepherd’s herd returned, pleased with their day’s foraging.
“Would it not be queer then,” continued the shepherd. “should the Sun one day befriended the sea birds, or the Moon befriended the land mammals? What would that come to achieve then? Certainly not as much as you both together.”
There was a long pause between the three of them. The imperfections the Sun and the Moon saw in each other were so great before. But yet now, its importance seemed diminished. So unimportant before the words of the shepherd – so unimportant compared to what they both had been doing together all along.
Turning towards his herd, the shepherd slowly walked away. However, before he did, he looked up to the Sun and the Moon once again.
“There will certainly be imperfections, but what truly matters then, is that the both of you are perfect for each other. And isn’t that so?”
Perfect for each other…
Soon the sky grew dark, and the night came over the land. The shepherd returned to his humble hut, while his herd settled down for the night. The Sun disappeared over the horizon, and the Moon now hung alone in the sky.
Though they didn’t say a word to each other that day, the shepherd’s words struck a chord in both of them.
Then when the next day came, the Moon went away, and the Sun came back out again, like it always did…
The Sun and the Moon never did quarrel again and they now both reside steadfastly over the lands. The Moon would still disappear on certain nights, and the Sun beat down ever as harshly. But these were no longer important. They both knew that they complemented each other, and that the cycle of life could continue because they were together.
And whenever the Moon and the Sun shared the same part of the sky during the brief periods of dusk and dawn, the sky always looked so much more beautiful and perfect. The subtle play of the colours on the lands and in the sky, simply because the both of them are there.
And perhaps that best epitomizes the reason for the Sun and the Moon, of being perfect for each other.
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