Stitching up the sky

In ancient China, wise young woman Loawnu fixes the sky for a joyous Spring Festival.

Almost 4000 years ago, in a village in ancient China, there lived a wise woman named Loawnu. Usually, wise women were old, but Loawnu was young. But, the villagers respected and trusted her. They came to her with their problems and she always found a solution for them.

One day, while the children were playing in the fields, they noticed that the sky overhead was becoming dark. Gradually it became darker and darker and a fearful wind picked up. It howled and screamed around the village and the children were scared. They saw that the wind had yanked up blue flowers from the earth and strewn them all around. They climbed the hill to Loawnu’s house. By the time they arrived, they were panic stricken. They shouted, “The sky has fallen. The sky has fallen.”

At any time, the sky falling is a disaster but, at this point, it was doubly so because this village had been chosen over several others to host the Spring Festival, a joyous affair for which everyone from all around came. It was also the time when young people would find suitable partners for themselves.

Loawnu saw that the children were troubled and scared. She spoke kindly and reassured them. “Children, go back to your homes. Do not worry about the sky. Everything will be fine and the festival will be a big success. Now, you must go down to your village and collect all the pieces of the sky you can find. I will sew the pieces back together again.”

The children were pacified and raced down the hill. They began to pick up the pieces of the sky but it was a difficult task because the powerful wind had blown them everywhere. Though they picked up almost everything they could find, they worried that there was so much of the sky that they could not find. They took all the pieces to Loawnu who promised to do her best.

Early the next morning, the children ran outside, eager to see if Loawnu had fixed the sky. They looked up and saw a bright blue sky and were happy. That night, when they looked up at the sky, they were wonderstruck. The usually dark sky was now shining with the bright twinkly lights that brightened up the night sky. The children knew that this Spring Festival would be the best ever.