Light of the World

THE Haida are an indigenous tribe living along the west coast of Canada. They consider the Raven, a celestial bird, as the Creator of the World.

In the beginning, the world was enveloped in darkness. A mean old chief had locked away the light of the universe in a box. The Raven decided to unlock the treasure and bring forth light in the world.

The Raven flew to the chief’s village where he saw his daughter come to the river. He transformed himself into a cedar leaf. He fluttered down to the river and slipped into the maiden’s hands as she cupped her palms to drink. She swallowed the leaf along with the water. The Raven leaf lodged itself in her womb and soon after, she became pregnant.

In due course, the maiden gave birth to a cherubic raven-haired baby boy. He was the apple of the chief’s eye.

One day, the chief gave him a bagful of sparkling stars to play with. Excited, he threw them up in the air. The stars escaped through the smoke-hole in the roof and lit up the night sky.

The chief was sorry to lose his stars. The next day, he took out another bag containing the moon. The child chortled with delight as he beheld the white orb. He rolled it close to the smoke-hole and whoosh! Up went the moon into the sky.

The child clamoured for another marvellous toy. This time, the chief opened a treasure box and said, “Child, this is my most precious possession. Be careful with it.” There were seven more boxes inside. In the innermost box, lay the fiery ball of light.

As soon as the child saw it, he assumed his true form of the Raven. He grabbed the sun in his beak and soared. He tossed the sun into space and thus light spread across the universe.