The legend of the first night and the first fire

At the beginning of times people lived in small villages. People of one village lived in harmony, they helped and supported each other, like one big family. Men were hunting, women spent their days gathering and taking care of homes and children. Their lives were kindly supervised by Gods.

The Gods were many. They filled forests with game and berries, sent rains, put fishes into ponds. The Gods helped people to keep health, love, peace and happiness. The most powerful of all Gods was Helios, the God of Sun, providing an essence of live. Helios used to spend all his time supervising people and protecting them from dark creatures. The Sun was never setting, always giving people all its light and warmth.

In a small village in a middle of the forest lived a very curious young man, named Daphis. Unlike others, he was not just hunting, he also was observing. Being respectful to Gods, Daphis was noting laws of nature. He knew the habits of wild animals and went for hunt according to this knowledge, after long and sincere pray, of course.

Once Daphis noticed that sometimes, there is a spark of light in the sky when it is heavy raining and sun is hidden by clouds. Actually, everyone saw it, but Daphis was the first one, who realized, that sun is, probably, not the only source of light. He also noticed that when the spark hits an old tree, the tree can feed the spark, and spark will stay longer, giving much more heat, than the Sun.

But what is the spark? Why can in shine, even without the sun and why is it so hot? There was only way to find out, namely to find the spark. It did not took Daphis long to do so. He knew, that hitting one stone with another might give a tiny spark as well, so he just fed it with some dry old tree and he got the first fire.

Other people of the village got inspired by this invention. It was so much the fire could give to them! But Helios got deeply offended by this people. Why would they need some stupid spark, when we was there for them all the time, giving light and warmth? Helios was very upset with Daphis and decided to teach him a lesson. There was nothing more precious to Daphis, than his beloved one, Helene. Helios took her and hided deep in the forest.

Helios spoke to Daphis:

- You needed my light to see her in the first place, so could you find her without me?

With this Helios left people for the first time and the first night begun. People have never seen such a darkness before. The light and warmth remained only in a place with the first fire. People of the village gathered there. The first night was Daphis’s fault, so they sent him alone to the forest to find Helene. He could bring her home or die there. Both outcomes would please the God and the sun would return.

But how to find her in the darkness? Days and days he was wondering in the forest. Without any light, he could find neither food nor water. He was starving and freezing in an endless night, but he knew, that his love is alone in a darkness as well and nothing mattered more than that to him, so he just kept searching. He would never return to the village without her, even if it meant death for him. The Goddess of Love, young Aphrodite, admired his sacrifice. She enchanted both of Daphis’s and Helene’s hearts, so they would draw each other, as magnets. The invisible spell lead Daphis’s way and he found his love.

When Helios returned to people, Daphis and Helene came to him. Although Aphrodite helped two lover in secret, Helios suspected that they must have cheated somehow. He was angry with them, but this time he decided to show mercy and not to punish everyone for Daphis’s misbehavior. He burned skins of Daphis and Helene, so they became invisible for each other. Even with all light in the Universe Daphis could not see Helene again, because light will go just through her. With Helene disappeared right in front of his eyes, Daphis thought, that Helios killed her for his mistakes. Nothing interested Daphis anymore, not even the first fire. He moved aside from the village, bewailing his love.

Nevertheless, people of the village decided to keep the first fire and learn how to feed and use it. They learned that Gods could be unpredictable and that people need fire to be independent of the God’s will. People learned how to control the fire and use it to warm their homes and cook food. They invented torches, which would enlighten their path in darkness.

This made Helios even angrier than before. Well, if people do not need him anymore why would he stay? Without any claims, he just left the sky. The second night started. If the first night lasted days, the second one lasted months or even years.

People were too proud, to ask Helios for forgiveness or other gods for help. In the very beginning of the night, people believed, that with the fire could survive it by themselves. People from different villages came to stay with the fire, because it was the only hope. They thought, it was enough food and water in store, but with more and more people coming, the supplies run out quickly. With torches, they could hunt and protect themselves from dark creatures. But very soon forests and ponds became empty. Without the sun no crops or berries were growing. There was no food neither for humans nor for animals.

Sensing, that Helios did not protect human anymore dark creatures attached human villages again and again. The amount of injured was growing, but without the sun there was no plants for healers to cure them. Dark and cold as a winter, the second night brought sickness and there was nothing healers could do about it.

Helene was among the healers. She worked hard to help as many as she could. She believed, that Daphis was dead, and there was nothing more she wished than him being with her. Once, she went far to the forest, searching for herbs that could help wounded. She was searching and went far away from the village, when she heard a voice. Daphis’s voice.

How could it be? She saw him disappearing from Helios’s spell with her own eyes. But knowing and believing is not the same thing. Although, she thought, Daphis could not live, the voice in the darkness filled her with hope. And hope usually gives us a certain glow. The glow, that we could not see by eye, because it is hidden deep under our skin, so that only loving heart can see it. Or the person, who can see us right through. Being drawn to his love with the spell that young Aphrodite put on him during the first night, Daphis immediately recognized Helene glowing. Love and hope made him glow in return. Through the darkness of endless night, despite of the Helios curse, who loving hearts had found each other.

Although, love and hope of the two shined bright, it could not replace the sun. Suffering from their own pride, people were starving, freezing, dying. The gods could not stand it anymore. In the end, gods could only live, when someone believes in them and a god dies with his last believer. With people’s suffering gods became weaker. It is in god’s interest only to protect and guide people, who believe. So, gods made Helios return to the sky. But being insulted, he did not want to stay with people all the time. The gods agreed that he has to stay with people for short time and that he could leave for the same amount time. It is how days and nights started to shift.

Invisible for each other at daylight, Helene and Daphis could find each other back every night. The curse, which was meant to separate them forever, turn to be a blessing to see other’s deepest feeling, as long as love and hope guide the way.