The dragon that ate up the sun

Margaret I. Hardy

Many , many years ago there were people who believed that a dragon lived in the sky.^{Franklyn M. Branley, Eclipses: Darkness in Daytime (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1973), p. 18 .} Sometimes—they didn't know why—the dragon would get angry with them. "When the dragon gets really angry with us, he takes away the sun. He eats the sun up, bit by bit, until it's all gone. Suddenly, even though it's daytime, there is no light at all," the people told each other.

Naturally the sun was very important to these people. They knew it kept them warm. It made food grow. It lighted their world. When the sun disappeared, the people feared it was gone forever. Could it be that from then on there would be only nighttime—no day at all?

Nowadays most people understand that what was so scary was a solar eclipse. What happens is that the moon passes between the earth and the sun, and the sun seems to disappear. It doesn't make us afraid, but the people long ago reacted out of fear. They tried to make a lot of noise by beating on drums and sticks and stamping on the ground. They thought big noises might scare away the dragon.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

The dragon that ate up the sun

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access