When the world was young, the moon was a ball of fire like the sun; some of the stars were the children of the sun, and the others belonged to the moon.
The sun was uncle to the moon, and the moon was nephew to the sun.
There came a time of hunger when the sun said:
“Moon, let us eat our children.”
The moon considered this, and then agreed. The sun brought the first food, one of his own stars, divided it in two and ate its share. The moon ate a small portion of its share and kept the balance.
When it was time for them to eat one of the moon’s children, the moon produced the remainder of the sun’s child and gave half to the sun as his share. The sun was a fool, for only his children were being eaten.
The sun, who had many more children than his nephew, continued to supply his own stars for them to eat. This thing went on, until the sun discovered all his children had been eaten. He was surprised to find the moon still had many left.
There was big palaver. The sun and the moon decided to live apart. The moon took his fire and divided it among his stars, so that each one had a lamp and the sun could not devour them secretly; and that is why the sun is hotter than the moon.
And because of the big palaver the moon shines only at night, attended by his children with their lamps, for the moon is afraid that his uncle might come and eat him.