Illustrations: Blair Lent
This masterful Nigerian tale written by Elphinstone Dayrell, joins in the Great Conversation by adding to the Ancient Greek and Egyptian mythological tradition of personifying heavenly bodies, it’s own cultural traditions. The Nigerian folktale syncretizes mythology with the Creation account of the earth being first made up of water. “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while the spirit of God swept over the face of the waters.” Genesis 1:1-3.
The Nigerian tradition of Hospitality is
a central theme as the Sun and Moon are presented as Host and Guest. The Sun invites the Moon to it’s home (made up of water) but the Moon only accepts the invitation if the Sun will enlarge it’s house enough to fit the Moon and it’s people of the water. The Sun being warm and hospitable represents the Nigerian people and let’s everyone inside filling the house with water and floating both Sun and Moon into the sky. This brilliant adaptation of how the earth was separated and made inhabitable makes this book relatable to children and opens a door to the deeper questions about the beginning of time and origins of the earth.
As scientists move closer to verifying that the earth was originally a water globe, “And God said: Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters and let it separate the waters from the waters.” Genesis 1:6-7, we can enjoy these stories as both folklore and as a celebration of Faith and Science mirrored by the wisdom of the Holy Scriptures in the Genesis of our world.