Shattered Like Glass

In the beginning of the universe, there is darkness and dwelling in the darkness is Chaos. Chaos is the harsh ruler of the stars in the sky who covets all the light. Now in the midst of the stars, there is one star the others proclaim to have greatness. This great star, called Dà qǐ

[1], slowly gains power and fights against Chaos until Chaos is destroyed. Dà qǐ becomes the emperor, keeper of the light, and the stars are free to flourish and fill the night. The feeling of loneliness begins to set upon Dà qǐ; he is great and longs for another to share in his greatness. Dà qǐ forms a sphere from the milieu of the universe and names the sphere Sun. Sun serves as an excellent companion to the great ruler of the stars.

Then, Dà qǐ realizes there is no way to spread light through the universe, and all the stars are enveloped in darkness. Again, Dà qǐ takes from the universe and creates a sphere to which he gives the name Moon. This beautiful sphere receives the gift of soft light from Dà qǐ. Moon allows her light to glow upon the stars, and Dà qǐ is pleased. He is so full of delight that he creates yet another sphere, this one being smaller, and places it in the void open space. “This Earth is a gift for Moon,” Dà qǐ explains, “so she will never disregard the importance of her light.” The Moon assures Dà qǐ that she will always care for her Earth.

Now the Sun has become immensely jealous of the gifts Moon has received. He expresses his anger towards Dà qǐ by stealing all Dà qǐ’s light. The Sun convinces a group of stars to rebel with him against Dà qǐ and use the light to their advantage. The Moon suggests to Dà qǐ that he should not use force; she says it would be an advantage to use natural weapons of self control and tranquility to gain peace. In the midst of the fray, the Sun has a clear path to attack Dà qǐ. Sun swings a giant bludgeon and shatters Dà qǐ into minuscule pieces, like the breaking of glass. Moon shines her beautiful light towards the Sun to temporarily blind him while several stars bind him with powerful rope.

The remnants of Dà qǐ gently float to the Earth’s surface followed closely by the sorrowful Moon. When the pieces come in contact with the ground, they transform into beautiful nature; some pieces sprout roots and branches with leaves, others expand and harden in immense sizes. As Moon witnesses this transformation, tears come flowing from her and form a river in the Earth. When she notices two rather large fragments of the once Great Star that are not transformed, Moon dips the pieces into the river of her tears and directs her light onto them. As her light mirrors off the pieces, they beam with life. The first piece to receive life is called man. Man is harsh to the land upon which he stands; this makes Moon upset for she had promised Dà qǐ the Earth’s care. When the second piece is full of life, Moon calls the piece woman. Woman calms man and teaches him to respect the Earth. Moon tells man and woman to refer to the transformed pieces with branches and leaves as trees and the immense hardened pieces as mountains. Moon also instructs them to guard what has been created from Dà qǐ’s remains.

After Moon returns to the spacious universe, the stars, which were once under the reign of Dà qǐ, declare Moon as the Queen of their Night. Sun, however, is condemned by the stars and forced to carry the light over the Earth for all eternity. Moon assures the stars that she will always light the night, except once every so often when she is visiting man and woman on Earth and is not visible in the sky. From then on, Moon pleasurably shines her soft, beautiful light upon the Earth and brings it peace.

[1] Dà qǐ is Chinese (traditional) for “great star”



i wrote this creation story for my world literature class on september 24th, 2007.