How The Sun Came To Be- Australian Aboriginal Legend

All tribes have their own stories of how the sun first came to be.This tale comes from Central Victoria

Early in the Dreamtime, before the sun had begun to shine, there was a young woman who decided to leave her group because the elders would not allow her to marry the lover of her choice.

She went a long way from the tribe and hid in a dry, rocky area. There was very little food and water here and no safe place to sleep. The young woman was hungry, thirsty and tired but she would not give up and return to her people. Then she saw that a group of men from her tribe were coming to take her back by force. She ran even further into the most barren part of the land.

Soon she was exhausted and bruised by branches and rocks, she was near to death but somehow she managed to keep going. Eventually her ancestor spirits became so concerned for the young woman, they lifted her gently away in to the sky world, where she slept peacefully for a long time.

When she awoke she found plenty of food and water and lit a camp fire. She was all alone but not afraid and grateful that she was at last warm and safe. She was as determined as ever to live alone forever rather than return to her tribe but as she looked down on them she saw that most of the men and women were sad that she had gone and her heart began to soften. After a few days she found she was feeling very homesick but now she belonged to the sky world and was unable to return home.

As she watched her people she saw that they were cold. Being occupied with the chores of daily life, they could not sit by their camp fires and keep warm as she now could.

The young woman decided to build up her camp fire and make it so big that it would warm all the people down below as they went about their day. So all day long she built up her fire to give warmth to her people and as night came she let her fire die down as they were then able to sit by their own camp fires.

When she saw how happy this made her people, she made up her mind to light her camp fire afresh each day. Soon her people began to look each morning for her sky-world fire. They were very grateful for the warmth it gave them and they called it 'The Sun'.