"In the wide sky above, which is the ceiling of Earth and the floor of
Heaven, there are many stars. Chief
among them is the Moon who passes nightly over mankind in silver splendour
gazing sadly this way and that and shedding light on the fields and forests,
the mountains and rivers, and the houses where sleepers stir as her beams pass
over them and then turn again to their rest.
‘I am the Sun’s bride,’ she murmurs softly, ‘but I never see him. One day we shall meet and shine together so
that there shall be no more darkness.’
There was a Star once who was quite unknown. He was not royal and serene like the Moon or
brave like the Pole Star guiding sailors across unknown seas or explorers over
empty deserts. He was not one of a
family like the Great Bear or the Little Bear or Orion who strides proudly
about the sky, sword at his side. He was
one among many, one in a crowd, one of the multitude that stretch up into the
empty darkness further than even an eagle’s eye can see and year after endless
year wheel and turn and shine as they are bidden to do. There was a Star once who was unknown but
became known, who from being unseen became seen, who was shy and achieved fame
and this is his story.
It began with a question. The
stars sleep by day and work by night, following the courses laid down for them
from the beginning of all things. Thus
there is light in the darkness and motion in stillness and worlds in the
emptiness of the sky. Without order
there is no pattern and without obedience there is no order; that is quite easy
to see. Nearly all stars do as they are
told and those who do not are sent into exile by the Great Council of Heaven
over which the Sun presides, passing above Earth as comets and shooting stars
into a darkness deeper than night. This
Star one night simply asked, ‘Why?’ And
the next night he asked, ‘What is this for?’
And the night after that he asked, ‘How big is the sky and how wide and
where do the shooting stars go when they flash past at a speed no-one can
measure?’
So one question led to another and each grew longer and more difficult
than the one before. The Star thought
once he might ask the Moon for the answers, but as she passed by she simply
said,
‘I am the Sun’s bride, you know, and cannot stop to answer
questions. One day I shall meet him and
we shall shine side by side and then there will be all the time you could wish
for. Come back then, little Star, come
back then.’
That was no help to the Star, although he did understand that the Moon
had much on her mind. All the time, with
every night that passed, the questions grew and grew in his mind until he
finally said to himself, ‘I do believe I shall burst if I don’t find the answers.’ He wondered a long time what he should do and
at last he decided to do what was so obvious once he had thought of it.
‘I will go and find out,’ he said.
It was a brave decision for any star to take, let alone one so small and
unimportant, but it is possible to be small and brave and big and afraid, and
also those who are small are less likely to be noticed.
It was a long journey once he had begun, and the beginning was the
hardest part of all. To step out of
line, no longer to follow the path set down for him when time began and all the
Worlds were fashioned in Heaven, to give up, perhaps forever, and he drew a
sharp breath at the thought, the wheeling and turning that all stars were supposed
to do, to risk being summoned before the Great Council of Heaven, having to
face the Sun’s blazing eye, these were thoughts that would chill the hearts of
the bravest and boldest of stars, and he was certainly not that. He thought this way and that way, for when
there is no one near you save silence there is plenty of time for thought, and
at last he decided that way.
‘I will go,’ he said, ‘I really
will,’ and he did.
It was a long journey, but not a hard one, once he had begun. There was much space in the sky and he could
turn left and right, drop down or go up, roll over or lie on his back and rest
just as he pleased. Once or twice he
passed near other stars and waved or smiled but they were too busy following
their nightly paths to bother their heads about him.
‘A Star that strays,’ he sighed, ‘is a lonely Star, so I must not mind
about that.’
On and on he went, for so many miles and so many years that no man could
count them, and still the end of his journey seemed no nearer, still the
questions ‘Why?’ and ‘What is this for?’ and so many others were
unanswered. What he did not know, because
there are no mirrors in the sky, was that the further he travelled the brighter
he shone.
How was he to know that the
sad Moon in her mercy and the bright Sun in his majesty took pity on the
wanderer and said to each other across the millions of miles that are destined
to keep them forever apart, ‘Let us lend him our light and make his way clear, for at least he has
the courage to search for an answer.
Perhaps if he finds it we shall be able to meet at last and reign side
by side in our own private Heaven. How
wonderful that would be!’
Brighter and brighter he shone, so that even the Pole Star, the Great
Bear and Little Bear noticed him and Orion paused in his stride, put his hand
on the hilt of his sword and cried out, ‘Where has that fellow come from?
He is clearly a trespasser.’
Jupiter felt pushed into the shade and Saturn began polishing up his
rings because he feared they would not be seen when the little Star was near Venus,
star of the Goddess of Love sighed as if a tremulous breeze of dusk was brushing
the heavens and said, ‘Ah, what a complexion! What
miraculous pallor! I do wish I knew the
secret.’
But she was never to know because the little Star never dared to go near
her, or Jupiter, or Saturn, or other important stars. At last he saw Earth which, though much
bigger than he, seemed in a way he could not describe friendly and welcoming.
‘Now there,’ he said, ‘Is a World that might answer my questions. That may be the end of my journey.’
In his brightness he drew near the Earth and in its darkness the Earth
looked up at him, and each said not a word.
The little Star circled the Earth, puzzled that one side was bright and
the other was dark, and he stooped closer to look at the dark side. And on the dark side was snow because it was winter
and the little Star stooped even lower because he had never seen snow before
and he paused for some time in wonder.
‘Now, there’s another question,’ he said to himself. ‘What can it be, whatever can the whiteness
be?’
And from his brilliance his light shone down to illumine the darkness and
he saw some sheds and a few figures waving to him, although he did not know
what they were.
‘A funny World, that,’ he thought.
‘Quite unlike any other I’ve seen.’
At last he decided to pass on his way, his questions unanswered, and no
one knows, save the Sun and Moon perhaps, exactly where he has gone or whether
he still shines as bright or if he has found the answers. No doubt he is still small and unimportant
but it is not, after all, every star that could give light to shepherds in
darkness and guidance to three Kings from the East or shine down when Peace
came to Earth in a manger.
