THE STORY OF THE CONQUERING OF THE SUN
(North American Indian)
Once upon a time Tä-vwotz, the Hare-God, was sitting with his family by the camp-fire in the solemn woods, anxiously waiting for the return of Tä-vi, the wayward Sun-God. Weary with long watching, the Hare-God fell asleep, and the Sun-God came so near that he scorched the shoulders of Tä-vwotz. Foreseeing the vengeance which would be thus provoked, he fled back to his cave beneath the earth. Tä-vwotz awoke in great wrath and speedily determined to go and fight the Sun-God.
After a long journey of many adventures the Hare-God came to the brink of the earth, and there watched long and patiently, till at last, the Sun-God coming out, he shot an arrow in his face; but the fierce heat consumed the arrow ere it had finished its course. Then other arrows were sped, till only one remained in his quiver; but this was the magical arrow that never failed its mark. Tä-vwotz, holding it in his hand, lifted the barb to his eye and baptized it in a divine tear; then the arrow was sped and struck the Sun-God full in the face, and the sun was shivered into a thousand fragments, which fell to the earth and caused a general conflagration. Then Tä-vwotz, the Hare-God, fled before the destruction he had wrought; and as he fled, the burning earth consumed his feet, consumed his legs, consumed his body, his hands and arms. All were consumed but the head alone, which rolled across valleys and over mountains, fleeing destruction from the burning earth, until at last, swollen with heat, the eyes of the god burst, and the tears gushed forth in a flood which spread over the earth and extinguished the fire. The Sun-God was now conquered; and he appeared before a council of the gods to await sentence.
In that long council were established the days and nights, the seasons and years, with the length thereof, and the Sun-God was condemned to travel across the firmament by the same trail every day.
Another view of the religion of the sun is shown in the Indian hymns to the sun, as it is rising, at mid-day, and at sunset. After the Indian hymn, we shall find it interesting to go to the opposite side of the earth and see what a Hindoo hymn to the sun is like. It is less a prayer than the Indian hymn, and, like the other Hindoo hymns, a song of praise.