Terms of
Use
Submissions
~ Heathen Stories and New Myths ~
Sunna and Mani
Once upon a time in a small village there lived a mother and father who had two
beautiful children. A girl who was blonde of hair with golden curls that looked
like rays of sunshine. A boy with raven black hair and silvery eyes who seemed
to prefer the night, the girl was always pleasant and kind as was her brother
and they played contently as children.
One day they decided to take them to the village elder so that they might find
fitting names for them. They entered into the hut of the elder, who after
looking at the children thought a few moments and said: “the runes say these two
are not just your children, but that of Sol the goddess of the sun sent to us
for a short time”
The parents just looked at one another and asked the elder “What shall we do if
they are the decedents of the gods?”
The elder looked grimly at the parents “it will be for them to decide” and with
that she sprinkled sacred herbs over the fire and called the name of Frigga and
Odin “come great mother and father and tell us what to do”
Sparks flew from the fire and a voice appeared from now where: “Children of the
sun and moon we give you the gift of two names…Sunna of the sun and Mani of the
moon, when these two reach their eighteenth birthday they must come to this hut
once more and leave their earthly home for a life amoung the gods”
The parents were saddened by this but they had no choice. They raised them well
and the village revered and love the goddess children. Sunna like the ‘sun’ was
always kind and generous to her people brining light wherever she went. Her
brother Mani lit the way for the hunters at night illuminating the forest with
his silvery eyes.
When they were eighteen they again entered the hut of the elder.
“You have returned children of the sky”, she said. This time the fire burned
brighter and out of the flames walked Frigga…
“Children it is time”, she said reaching out her hand. And with that Sunna and
Mani were taken to the world of the gods. There in the largest hall of the gods
they were brought by Frigga to receive their ‘duties’
There in the hall they met the goddess Sol, their mother who looked at the
children with pride and love.
Sol smiled and said: “Sunna here is your shield may it keep the rays of sun from
the Earth as you ride. Take this with your chariot and steed. For ever after
this day shall you ride across the sky and to Mani, here is your shield, may it
shine forever across the sky as a reminder to the Earth of the nightly journey
in which travels the Moon…For ever after this day you shall chase your sister
across the sky”
At this she shed a single tear and held them both saying “For never shall you
see one another again, for as one rises, one sets, as one travels across the sky
the other hides in the underworld…never again shall you see each other except
for times when the moon and sun rest together in the sky.”
And so with sadness Mani and Sunna boarded their chariots and rode off in the
sky together for a short while until they departed forever…
But this was not the end….for deep in the dark forests of Ironwood, there among
the wolves there sleeps two little cubs whose father was Fenris the great wolf,
the bane of Odin.
The wolf cubs woke to a bright light moving across the sky…
“What is that light mother?”, they asked.
“I am unsure my cubs we shall go and ask your father…” she replied
But they could not go outside of the cave for the light was so bright it
illuminated their fur, making it hot and uncomfortable to walk. It was so hot in
fact the cubs could barely stand longer than a second in its bright rays and so
their mother tucked them back into the cave until nightfall…
However that changed nothing…that night when the mother wolf went out to hunt
she found the light of the moon shone so brightly she could not hide and thus
all in the wood were able to flee from her hungry jaws
This angered the wolves! No longer able to walk out in the day to roll in the
long grass, no longer able to hunt they were trapped like rats in the cave….
The mother wolf finally decided to do something about this and so one night she
stuck her head out of the cave and howled the loudest howl she could manage….so
loud it was that several miles away the great father of the cubs Fenris stirred
and woke
Fenris then made the journey despite the heat and the light toward the cave …
Fenris looked at his wife and said” It seems my dear we have need to act,
although it angers me to have to do this now…but what choice do we have…this
constant light is enough to drive one mad”
“It is true Fenris we must do something…but what.” She replied
The cubs came out and looked deep into their father’s eyes…
“Send us father” they said “for we are strong and no one in the nine worlds has
seen us yet, they won’t be looking for us”
“We shall go” they said, “chase the sun and her brother the moon and catch them
in the sky as the move…thus ending the light in the woods, and enabling us to
sleep once more…”
Fenris and his wife agreed. The two wolves would be sent into the sky. The
little cubs were kissed and cuddled and leapt strongly into the sky…
As soon as they saw the chariots in the sky they gave chase… Sunna rode her
chariot faster as the wolves grew closer but still they ran, still they
followed. No matter how fast she ran they were there nipping at her wheel…they
tried to run between her and her brother but the two could not keep up with the
chariots and seemed just one tooth away from each chariot.
However once in a while the wolves would catch the sun or the moon but Sunna and
Mani would struggle and pinch them until the set them free…and so each time you
see the sun black or the moon red know that the sun and moon are within the jaws
of the wolves and thus it is our duty to raise our voices and convince those
rogues to release them….so with your loudest voice yell out:
Hail Sunna, goddess of the Sun!!
Hail Mani, god of the moon!!
Hail, Hail, Hail
© Larisa C Hunter aka Mist, Gyðja of Kenaz Kindred
Author of "FULLTRÚI : Patrons in Ásatrú"
This work by
Larisa C Hunter is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at
www.kenaz.ca.