The Northern Lights

Once in the cold, bitter lands of the far north, there lived two poor farmers. Though they were formidable in appearance, the two farmers were peaceful by nature. Every night when the Sun twirled out of view and the Moon slipped onto the bare canvas of the Sky, the two farmers would watch the sunset, bedazzled by the amazing colors and bright shows brought on by the dances of the Sun and Moon. Poor and living tough lives, the farmers dreamed of throwing away their cares and dancing as the Sun and Moon did across the sky. Their aching and painful lives drove them to wish to escape the plight that they had been placed in, to feel joy for as little as a fleeting moment. One harsh season, Winter stole away the farmers' crops, leaving them with barely any food to eat or sell. Starving from the lack of food, the farmers still gazed up at the stars, gawking at the beauty in the heavens, a contrast with their pain on the Earth. In pain, the two farmers searched the barren lands for food to eat. Finding bare nuts and the occasional dead animal, the two farmers wandered farther and farther away from their homes in pursuit of sustenance. One tragic day, however, the farmers wandered too far from their homes. Unable to find their way back home, the farmers huddled together and watched as the sun set and the moon rose above them, yearning to escape their mortal plight. As they watched the beautiful performance one last time, rivers of cold flowed through their veins. Soon, Winter and Snow came, whisking away the last shreds of life in the two farmers, and their bodies slumped into the landscape of the north, to be forgotten in the annals of snow and ice. But as they died, the spirits of the sky honored their wish, transporting their spirits in the sky to dance together, finally free of the bounds of mortality. Every year, the beautiful Northern Lights weave across the sky, a ribbon of pink and green that shine across the northern lands. Each time you see the Northern Lights, know that the two farmers are still dancing together to this day.