I am eating morning tea with a group of four year olds at an early childhood centre and the sun disappears and yet another deluge of rain pours from the sky. I ask, “I wonder where the sun goes when we can’t see it?” “That’s night,” explains one child. “When we go to sleep the sun goes away and when we wake up the sun comes back,” adds another. “But I wonder where does it go?” I ask. “A crocodile swallows it up,” says the girl sitting next to me. “But how does it come back?” I ask now intrigued. “A little bird! A little bird flies into the crocodile’s tummy and gets it.” Why the sun comes and goes During the day time people are awake. But when the sun disappears, a big crocodile swallows it. Then a little bird has to fly through its teeth into its tummy and get the sun. Otherwise it would be dark all the time and we wouldn’t wake up. Humans love stories and there is not a group of people upon this earth without a body of narratives that seek to make meaning of the world. There is a saying that comes from the Talmud, “God loved stories so much, he made people.” It is something particular to humans that we make sense of the world through stories and it is probably near impossible for us to imagine any other way of meaning making. I like to think of stories as the voice of human curiosity answering itself and they certainly are the largest invisible human system of organisation on our planet. Where did this world come from? How did the stars, the moon and the sun come to be in the sky? Who were the first humans and how were they created? Where did fire come from? Earthed Stories – Connecting to the natural world through storytelling By Tanya Batt Storytelling with Sand and shells Telling a story December 2022 { 30 }
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