Long, long ago, when the world was new, the sun would never set. Day after day light streamed from the sky. It warmed the people, the earth, the rivers, the flowers and trees. Everything was always blooming, so full of life, and for a long time the people were glad.
However, as with everything, there was a problem: Sleep was next to impossible with the sun always glaring down on the world and people wished for darkness. They longed for sleep.
There was only person who owned the night, a youthful witch by the name Hecate. She lived near the river and discovered the night below the watery blanket. She decided to never share it and keep all for herself.
She transformed herself into an intricately patterned snake and dragged it deep into the depths of the river, where she hid it inside a coconut shell.
For a while, the night was hers and no one knew. But soon enough, rumours started going around about how she found a way to sleep, for she was too youthful-looking to not have. They sent forth the young witch's mother, Aesteria, to speak to her.
"Give us the night, Hecate. Give us the darkness." She implored. "We've grown weak. We need to sleep."
Hecate laughed at her mother.
Later on, Aesteria came back with the townspeople. They circled Hecate and began to pray. "Please release the night." They begged.
She laughed at them again.
They sang songs to her and danced around her, but no matter what they did, she still refused to share the night. Eventually, they just gave up and went back to their homes.
Hecate had a daughter, Circe, who grew to be a beautiful young woman. Circe fell in love with a young man, Telemachus, who lived in a faraway village. They got married, and as time passed, Circe began to understand how exhausted her poor husband was. She was also a witch and didn't need the darkness to sleep, but she still felt for her husband and all the people of his tribe.
"I should ask my mother to give us the night. Surely she wouldn't refuse her own daughter." Circe said to Telemachus, who instantly agreed, and three servants were sent to collect to the coconut shell. Before they left, Circe gave them very clear instructions: "My mother will give you the coconut. Do not open it under any circumstances and bring it straight to me. If you open it, everything will be lost." The servants agreed to this plan, and they began their journey to the faraway village where Hecate resided. They travelled in a little boat, down the flowing river to Hecate's house.
As the servants travelled, and the townspeople followed and stood alongside the river, they called out, "We are going to bring the night!"
The townspeople replied with, "Hurry back! Please hurry!"
Everyone couldn't wait for their return. Even the trees were sighing with relief at the news.
Eventually, the servants reached the house of the witch, Hecate. She grew angry as the servants drew closer, but she knew that she must give them the coconut. She didn't want to keep anything from her daughter, so along with the coconut, she gave the servants specific instructions: "Do not open this, it is a gift for my daughter. If you set the night free, you and your people will live in darkness forever."
The servants agreed to do as she wished and they carried the coconut into their boat, setting off for home. As they paddled, they listened closely. They heard within the coconut shell strange sounds -- sounds they had never heard, hoots and howls, whirring wings and chirping crickets -- all the sounds of the creatures of the night.
"I wish I could see the darkness for just one moment." One of the servants said, and the others agreed.
"Just listen to that." The second said as a howl emerged from the shell. "I wonder what the night looks like."
"I wonder too." Said the third, and they couldn't refrain. They opened the coconut, and in an instant, the world was covered in the darkness. No one could see anything, and all around they heard howling and hooting and felt wings brushing against their skin.
Back in the village, Circe saw the world turn dark, and she realized what had happened. She held Telemachus' hands in hers. "Your servants have betrayed us." She said softly, and when she touched her husband's face, she felt his tears falling.
At that moment, she knew she must save the world from complete darkness. She cut a long strand of hair from her head, and she threw it into the sky. The hair cut a slit in the blanket of darkness, and a slender ray of sunlight shone through, creating the dawn.
"We shall have day and night." She told Telemachus, and so she set the pattern of dawn leading to daylight, followed by dusk and then darkness.
The three servants were sent away to live in the forest and they then became the monkeys who inhabit the trees. They have lived in fear of the creatures of the night they let loose ever since.
