“When someone’s heart breaks, so does a little piece of our world. This creates fissures, valleys, chasms, even cracks in the pavement. Tell me the story behind the Grand Canyon.” -u/Dashr246, original post here.
Listen closely, child, and I will tell you a story of love and loss so powerful that it shaped the very ground we walk upon. Listen closely, child, and if you pay attention, you may learn something important.
Long ago, when the Earth was young, Mother Nature walked alone on the planet. She was beautiful and she was kind, but she had no others to keep her company. Where she walked she transformed the ground, and life sprung up beneath her feet. When she went to swim around in the ocean, fish and seaweed were born into the waters. Wherever she went, she spread life.
But for all the life that she spread, she could never meet her equal. She made fish and rodents and plants and bugs, but nothing that could remove her from her loneliness. She spent her days wandering, and when the night came, she slept in the inky blackness, with only the stars overhead. For you see, when the Earth was young, the nights were long and dark.
One day, as Mother Nature wandered along, she heard a loud call from up above. It was not one of the birds born of her song, but something new. She looked up quickly, and saw a woman falling from the sky.
When the woman fell, the Earth broke. As she hit the ground, it shattered, breaking apart into huge, drifting pieces with the force and fury of the blow. Mother Nature hurried to the fallen woman’s side. She had never seen another woman before, and now was curious to see what kind of life this new woman would produce.
The fallen woman was beautiful. Her hair was silver and white, and it shone with a reflective luster. As Mother Nature approached her, she saw that the woman was crying, tears falling shamelessly from her face. This upset Mother Nature, and she stepped forward to comfort the woman.
“Beautiful woman, fallen from the sky, why do you cry so? I can see that you are like me, and that we are special and different from other life. We are able to understand and create, and we have found each other. Should we not be happy in each other’s company?”
The woman replied, and she said to Mother Earth, “I am Moon, and I have lost so much. I was travelling through beauty, through limitless stars, until this rocky prison got in my way and I fell. I have been stripped of my home in the stars, and I fear I may not be able to return, and this is why I cry.”
Mother Nature laughed. “Fear not, Moon. I am Mother Nature, and you have found yourself somewhere beautiful. Look, see the wonders that this planet has to offer.” And she held out a hand, and life came forth. Plants, animals, bugs, fish; all rushed forth from Mother Nature, and Moon watched in awe.
“I have never seen life before,” Moon said, “not in all of my travels. What is this strange power?”
“This is the power of the Earth,” Mother Nature replied. “The Earth produces beautiful things, wonderful things that cannot be produced anywhere else; and now it has produced you, the most beautiful of all. Will you not stay with me for a while?”
Moon was taken in by Mother Nature’s kind words, and she marveled at the life that surrounded her. She decided to stay, and to see what life unfolded before her. And for a time, the two of them were happy.
During the day, Mother Nature would show Moon the wonders of life. She would make small animals, or fragrant flowers, and they enjoyed each other’s company, as each found the other immeasurably beautiful. But things were not perfect.
At night, Moon could see the endless stars above her, calling out for her to return home to their grasp. She felt trapped on Earth, so full of life but ultimately constraining. She yearned for the infinite reaches of the cosmos.
Eventually, a night came when Moon couldn’t take it anymore. She rose from where she slept beside Mother Nature, and she did her best not to wake her. While Mother Nature slept, Moon began to rise away from Earth.
But life on Earth is not still, and even while Mother Nature slept, there was life keeping watch. A passing owl saw Moon rising, and quickly roused Mother Nature to warn her. Mother Nature looked skyward and wailed in despair, seeing her beloved fallen woman leaving her. She quickly leaped into the air, and caught hold of a strand of Moon’s hair.
Moon yelled in turn, but kept rising. As she rose, Mother Nature fell, and she pulled Moon’s hair with her, stretching longer and longer as they moved apart. Desperate to keep Moon tethered to Earth, Mother Nature quickly tied the strand of Moon’s hair to the ground. With it secured, she called back up to Moon.
“Moon! Why are you leaving me? Do you not love me and my life?”
Moon squirmed in agony, still rising in spite of her hair being tied down. As she rose, she began to unravel, all of her body being slowly consumed to feed into the growing string of hair that connected her to Earth. Her toes, then her feet, then her ankles all began to disappear. “I do not belong here, Mother Nature! I am a creature of the cosmos, of space and of travel! Let me go, I beg of you! I must return to the stars!”
But Mother Nature shook her head. “No,” she said, “I cannot let you go. I love you, and there are none others like you. If you loved me, you would do the same.”
“I do love you,” Moon called down, “but I do not belong here. Please, please let me go. My love for you will only bring me pain.” Already, Moon was unraveling more and more to lengthen her tether. She was drawn to space, and she could not help but strive for it, even as it destroyed her.
And Mother Nature sobbed, and felt deep regret for what she had done. She went to the thread of hair that connected Moon to the Earth, and with a quick slash, she severed the strand. She looked up for a last look of her beautiful Moon, tears in her eyes for the first time.
But Moon was no longer rising. She hovered far above the Earth, not close enough to be with Mother Nature, but not truly in space, and a sense of horror washed over her. She had given up too much of her form to lengthen the tether, and now there was not enough of her left to propel herself into space. Moon let out a primal cry, and it echoed down to the Earth below.
When Mother Nature heard Moon crying, she realized what she had done. Her beloved Moon was trapped, unable to ever return to her home, and unable to spend the rest of time down on Earth with Mother Nature. Mother Nature’s heart broke, and she collapsed to the ground. Where she fell, the very Earth rent itself with her despair, and a great crevasse formed, a scar in the Earth large enough to be a testament to her pain. As she sank further away from her Moon, the crack in the ground became a canyon, grand and winding.
From that day forward, Moon was trapped between Earth and Space, forever floating in between. So angry was she with Mother Nature that she vowed to never look at her again. She turned to face the cosmos from whence she came, and Mother Nature could only ever look up and see Moon’s back, forever turned to face the planet that had trapped her.
Mother Nature, devastated, cried and cried until her tears filled the canyon. They formed a great river, and eventually flowed out into the ocean. Even her tears strained to reach Moon, and whenever Moon passes overhead, the oceans reach up to be closer to her.
By the time Mother Nature stopped crying, it was night. But as she looked around, she realized it was a night like she had never seen before. In place of inky blackness, a pale light shone down on Earth, illuminating the world through the darkness. Mother Nature looked up, and she saw Moon casting down a silvery glow of light, forever present in the darkness.
Even when they were apart, Moon could not help but share her nights with Mother Nature, and Mother Nature could not help but stare at Moon and admire her beauty. They remain that way to this day, with Moon locked in the sky, but casting down her presence to share with Mother Nature every night.
This is the story of Mother Nature and Moon, child. Remember it well. Some may say that it would have been better for Mother Nature to have let Moon go, and others will say that Moon is at fault, for wanting to leave despite Mother Earth’s love. I say to remember that even after Mother Earth hurt her, Moon still casts down her light—because she still loves Mother Earth, even if her mistakes can’t be fixed. She still loves Mother Earth, even though she was hurt. She still loves Mother Earth, because Moon is not from Earth, and she carried with her to Earth the greatest gift in the cosmos.
Forgiveness, child.
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