I always knew that “The Sun Child” would be different from the rest of the stories, but it took a while for me to discover the poem within. Luan is perhaps the most elusive figure in the series. She may be a tempter, but she isn’t exactly a Satan-figure either. She’s more like the Fae, powerful and proud but too aloof to realize the consequences of her actions on the human race.
This poem is not a Genesis story. It may be an origin story, explaining the Memory Keepers’ beliefs in how the Gifting came to be, but it is not an allegory. The Matriarchs and Patriarchs are not meant to be Adam and Eve, especially considering there are ten of them instead of two. Likewise, there is no clear explanation of where the first humans came from, though it is implied that they were born of the stars.
Nonetheless, I have drawn from previous traditions and stories. Like the story of Cain and Abel, the acts of the Matriarchs and Patriarchs is quite bloody. And the style of the poem follows that of Milton’s Paradise Lost, with iambic pentameter, variating stanzas, and no rhyme. Unlike classical poetry, however, I have included quotations marks for each set of dialogue for clarification.
While the Memory Keepers bare some animistic traits, they are primarily monotheist. During the time that “Luan and the Star’s Daughter” was composed (2701, 1436 years before the events of Last of the Memory Keepers), it would have been viewed as heretical. After all, not only does the poem not acknowledge a single Creator, but it also references minor deities. Although the poem was well-liked by the general population, it took approximately 150 years after Fraser’s death before the Council of Elders accepted it as a piece of mythology.
Summary
Recorded by Ewan Fraser, the following poem is the origin story of the Memory Keepers. The event is also referred to as the Gifting, in which the five races received their abilities. Twelve humans, six couples, lived in harmony at the dawn of time. Then the Moon came down to the mother of the Shape-Shifters and offered to grant her a Gift so long as all humankind accepted. Two refused, so the other ten turned on them and killed them. That way, all ten could accept. The Moon, displeased with their treachery, still granted the Gifting but proclaimed it as a curse instead of a blessing.
Characters (in order of appearance)
Luan (The Sun Child)—the Moon
Vera—Matriarch of the Shape-Shifters
Patriarch of the Shape-Shifters
Glenn—Matriarch of the Memory Keepers
Angus—Patriarch of the Memory Keepers
Matriarch and Patriarch of the Meridians
Naoki—Matriarch of the Diataro
Man and Woman
Matriarch and Patriarch of the Lightning Wielders
Rin—Patriarch of the Diataro
Ancient Memory, Winter
Equinox, Estimated 2701
Keepers Present: Ewan
Fraser
The daughter of the
Sun[1]
stooped down to behold
the earth and swept
aback the cobwebbed clouds
marveling at green
birth. Up shoots of gold-
tinged grass, silver
droopèd bells, mazy ivy,
and cold, em’rald
waters lay past yonder 5
hills; there’n the
downs an idle girl gazed on mid-
morn light. Upon her
back she lay, her white-
and-gold hair like
tresses fit for stars. The Sun’s
Child, Luan thus
namèd, beheld the youth from ‘far
before she tucked the
clouds beneath her skirts 10
and spoke, “Daughter
of yonder star,[2] why
should
thou idle thus when
thou lookest fit for bliss
beyond all care?” Up
sat the girl,[3] a
wist-
ful look within her
eyes. “Sisters of mine
say that I dream too
oft,” said she. “I came 15
away to behold the
dawn alone.” Smiled
thus the Sun Child. “I
have in mind to grant
a gift to thou, on one
condition—that
to imagine forever,
thine heart’s sole
joy, first thou
shouldst find it in thyself to 20
search out thine
brothers’ and sisters’ longings
and ask them too if
they would take mine Gift,[4]
for it will only work
when all conscious
beings do welcome it.
Dear dreamer, can thou
imagine how much thou
might do e’ermore? 25
Thou canst be like me,
pow’rful and benign.”[5]
There shone an awe in
her blue eyes, for her
mind could think up
wonders to create that
she ran off to greet
her peers, eleven
in all, husband and
friends. The first she found
beneath an oaken
shade, planning some new 30
shelter to build with
his own hands. She told
of her request, her
dream, and gathered they
their friends to whom
she told her tale, to wait
on their response.
They stood around a pool
aquamarine,
silver-shored, listening 35
to Vera utter her tale
and her plea.
Most took interest in
their dreams, for many
they had to behold,
none too great or far,
yet spake thus her
raven-headed friend,[6] “We
shouldst forget not
the ordination set
down by the Sun to
live as we are now, 40
touch’d not by craft
of altering shape or
magic strange. Remember
thine true form and
do count thineself
grateful forevermore.”
“Oh, Glenn,” thus
spake the Star’s Daugther, “How canst
thou think this gift
to change thine self? ‘Tis but 45
a mere means meant to
enhance that which thou
posseseth already.
Thou shalt never
forget another
ordinance, nor word,
nor thought. Thou
shalt keep and treasure them for
all eternity.” Think
on the good that 50
could come of her
proposal the raven-
headed girl and her
husband did o’er time.
“Would that we should
live so long,” spake their tall
companion with skin as
dark as coal,[7]
“but length of days is
beyond all reason 55
of true life. No body
could thus sustain
one thought once it is
dead, for we are mere
mortals destined to
die before the Sun. “
“Yet length of days,”
young Vera said, “that thou
might have if thou did
but ask.” Then up spake 60
yon stout yet
e’er-perceiving Naoki,[8]
“Come now, can such a
thing be wise? Permit
us to hear out the Sun
Child herself. Then
we can decide our
fate.” Her proposal
appeared most good to
them all save the two 65
auburn-headed souls[9] who
reserved their thoughts
even after the
choleric couple[10]
urged long,
swift strides should
Luan withdraw her offer.
Thus they passed by
the lake towards yon’ downs
to seek their fate,
but halfway up the hill, 70
golden sheaves bending
in the wind, one girl
held her husband’s
hand, stopped, and made their plea,
“We came into this
world wanting nothing
but life and creation
thereof. Vera
encourages us to excel
beyond one 75
mere thought, but the
power of gods is far
beyond mortals for
higher reasons not
known. Let us still
our passions and content
ours hearts with
simple marvels of this earth.”
“Simple are thou,
Sis’,” said Angus, “deny 80
us all our Gift thou
wouldst, for did Luan
thus say it would only
work shouldst we all
accept?” Argued they,
on and on and on,
until the Sun did set
and rise and set
again until the ten
men and women 85
did take leave of the
two they deemed dogged
and spake amongst
themselves how they might obtain
the Gift yet. At last
they concluded as
one mind to rid
themselves of the couple,
for without conscious
minds, they could not, 90
therefore, stand
between the ten and the Gift.
A sup thus served the
ten beneath an Ash
spreading its boughs
overhead in gray dusk.
Thirteen fine torches
placed with care by yon
fire-makers lit the
night, casting shadows 95
upon the twelve as
they dined merrily
on roasted apples,
fresh-picked blackberries,
and savory herbs, all
the while under
pretense of
resignation to their self-
born state. After they
finished, the long-lived 100
parents brought forth twelve
drinks of sweet wine, blood-
red, prepared from
within their own vineyards
upon yon’ hill. Thus
Vera and her other
half uplifted their
cups, proposed a toast
in feigned content,
and drank they all to peace 105
and unity of the
twelve. Little the auburn-
headed couple did know
about the fruit
slipped in their
drinks by Angus and Glenn ‘fore
they supped until
their stomachs cramped with pain.
Thus they doubled over
while Rin took up 110
a pointed rock and
thrust it between both
their ribs, one at a
time, while proud Noaki
stood by in approval.
Thus did the two,
man and woman, give up
their final breath,
and mark the first
death. But before the blood 115
could yet dry, the
choleric couple brought
forth two torches and
burnt up the bodies,
and then buried them
beneath the Ash Tree.[11]
Back came they, from
the light-haired to the dark,
until they came down
unto the lake, to await 120
the return of the
daughter of the Sun.
In silence they stood
‘round ‘bout ‘till dawn when
Angus looked up and
spake to his own dear
wife, “Remember thou
saidst, and remember
we shalt, for all
history to come and 125
all thoughts therein,
embedded in my mind
shalt be now and
fore’er more. For I shant
ever erase this deed,
hastily done
and ill conceived,
from mine grief-stricken mind.”
“I doubt not our loss,
dearest brother,” saidst 130
the choleric mother, “that
harsh loss of friends
and fellowship,
laughter and tales, but yet
turn thine thoughts
upon how much more we shalt
gain through the
promised power we’ll receive.”
Forth at last came the
Sun Child, dew trailing 135
in her wake and said
unto the final
men and women, “Here
thou hast gathered thine
kindred, oh Child, but
where, I might inquire,
hath thine other
siblings vanishéd to?”
A silence held the
ten, for they, consumed 140
with fear of death,
did not dare to utter
their deeds before the
daughter of the Sun.
Until up spake Rin,
short yet proud in his
stature,[12] “Ten
are we now, for those two are
no more. Here have we
come to stake our claim 145
upon the Gift thou
swore to grant shouldst we
all accept. As thou
can see, we all do.”
Surveyed him, Luan
did, then spake, “Shrewd art
thou. From thine
birth, thy beheld the swiftest
of paths to take and
the most-pointed words 150
to speak to attain
thine desires. For thine
words and ways, thou
and thine life-partner shalt
receive strength
beyond thine fellow man[13] to
apply thine mind to
raise up palaces and
kingdoms, yet the
tearing down of empires 155
thine offspring shalt
be drawn to fore’ermore.”
To the choleric, she
thus saidst, “With fire
thou buried and with
fire, thou shalt fall, but
lightning shall answer
to thine call[14] and
the
stones shall mimic
thine name now and hereon. 160
“Thou idle child, thou
dreamers,” Luan spake up
once more, “O, that I
hadst thine imagin-
ation to steal thus
from the gods.[15]
Thou and
thine partner shalt be
able to change thy shape
according to whate’er
thou desirest,[16] 165
except thou shalt then
forget thine true self.”
Then, to the
raven-headed ones, she spake,
“To remember thou
wished, and remember
thou shalt the
thoughts thou stole. Entrust thou with
the keeping of memory
all throughout the ages[17] 170
now and forevermore.
As for thou two,
both desirers of
longevity and growth,[18]
fated to live; fated
to die, seekers
of life, thou shan’t
taste death ‘till thou watch‘st thine
own brothers rest
thrice more. Thus is 175
mine Gift to thee
according to thine heart’s
desire. Live it well,
thou Children of Dust.”
As she thus spake, she
faded like a mist,
and once the Sun
arose, was vanished, to walk
the earth ne’ermore
for spent was her pow’r on 180
mortals herein. Her
place she took within
the heav’ns where she
doth dance until the Sun
in days to come shall
then bestow upon
her leave[19] to
regain her power once again.
***
Let's
chat! Have you read "The
Sun Child" yet? What did you think of this companion
poem?
