A very long time ago, there lived in China the Emperor Ti-siun.

Ti-siun had two wives – the mother of moons and the mother of suns. The mother of moons had twelve children, the twelve moons. The mother of suns had ten children, the ten suns.

The twelve moons, twelve sisters, lived peacefully with each other and never quarreled. Every month one of the moons would take its place in the night sky, to be followed by one of the other moons the following month, and so on till each of the twelve moons had had its turn and twelve months had gone by. Then the moons would start all over again. The twelve moons follow this pattern still – and we can see them in the sky at night, a different moon every month.

The ten suns, ten brothers, shared the sky during the day. Every morning their mother would take them to the Valley of Light, Yang-ku, which lies on the eastern edge of the world. In that Valley there is a shining lake, and an enormous tree that reaches right up to the sky.

The mother of the ten suns would bathe her children in the shining lake every morning, and once they were clean and refreshed, the ten suns would go up to the giant tree. This tree was called fu-sang. It was an enormous mulberry tree with a hollow trunk.

The ten suns would begin to climb the huge tree, one after another. They would climb and climb till at last they reached its lowest branches. There, nine of the ten suns would sit and make themselves comfortable. The tenth sun, whose turn it was to cross the sky, would keep climbing, higher and higher till he reached the topmost branches of the great tree.

There, at the top of the tree, would be his mother, the mother of ten suns, waiting to drive him across the sky in a golden chariot drawn by dragons. The sun would climb into the chariot, and off he would go with his mother across the sky, bringing light and warmth to the world. It would take the sun and his mother all day to cross the sky. Finally, towards evening, they would reach the western edge of the world. There, on a high mountain peak called Yen-Tzu, they would stop to rest. The mother of suns would unyoke the dragons, who would stretch their tired wings and wave their tails in relief.

Now, just as the enormous tree fu-sang grew on the eastern edge of the world, on the western edge of the world there grew the enormous tree jo. The branches of the jo reached up into the sky, and the tree was covered with shining red flowers. The sun would grasp the branches of this giant tree, and slowly, steadily climb down to the earth, in the same way that he had climbed up into the sky that morning along the branches of the fu-sang tree.

As the sun would climb lower and lower, the sky would become darker and darker, till at last night would fall on the world. Then the red flowers of the jo tree would shine and sparkle – they are the stars we see in the night sky even today.

The next morning it would be the turn of another sun to make the journey across the sky.

The ten suns followed this pattern for many many thousands of years, and all was well with the world. Plants grew and crops prospered, and the people were happy and content.

Then one day the ten suns began to argue with each other. ‘I want to be the one to ride across the sky today,’ said one. ‘Oh no, you don’t!’ said another. ‘I will ride across the sky today.’ A third pushed them aside and began to climb to topmost branches of the fu-sang tree. At this a violent quarrel broke out with the result that all ten suns rose up into the sky together!

The world began to blaze with their light and burn with their combined heat. Forests burnt down, crops withered, rivers dried up and people began to die of heat and thirst. No amount of tears or prayers affected the suns. Each one wanted to ride across the sky, and like stubborn little children, none would give way to the others.

At last their mother appealed to her husband the Emperor Ti-siun for help. The Emperor thought hard, and then had an idea. He called to him the hero Yi the Excellent Archer, and giving him a magic bow, ordered him to shoot down nine of the ten suns.

Yi the Excellent Archer did as the Emperor commanded. One by one he shot down nine of the ten suns, till only one sun remained in the sky. That is why we have only one sun in the world today.

 The nine suns who were shot down turned into ravens. Every morning they would croak and caw and call to their brother the tenth sun, as he climbed up the branches of the fu-sang tree on the eastern edge of the world. You can hear the ravens call even today as they croak and caw to greet the rising sun.