Brother, one day the Sun resolved to marry. During nine years, drawn by
nine fiery horses, he had rolled by heaven and earth as fast as the wind
or a flying arrow.
But it was in vain that he fatigued his horses. Nowhere could he find a
love worthy of him. Nowhere in the universe was one who equaled in
beauty his sister Helen, the beautiful Helen with silver tresses.
The Sun went to meet her, and thus addressed her: "My dear little sister
Helen, Helen of the silver tresses, let us be betrothed, for we are made
for one another.
"We are alike not only in our hair and our features, but also in our
beauty. I have locks of gold, and thou hast locks of silver. My face is
shining and splendid, and thine is soft and radiant."
"O my brother, light of the world, thou who art pure of all stain, one
has never seen a brother and sister married together, because it would be
a shameful sin."
At this rebuke the Sun hid himself, and mounted up higher to the throne
of God, bent before Him, and spoke:--
"Lord our Father, the time has arrived for me to wed. But, alas! I
cannot find a love in the world worthy of me except the beautiful Helen,
Helen of the silver hair!"
God heard him, and, taking him by the hand, led him into hell to affright
his heart, and then into paradise to enchant his soul.
Then He spake to him, and while He was speaking the Sun began to shine
brightly and the clouds passed over:--
"Radiant Sun! Thou who art free from all stain, thou hast been through
hell and hast entered paradise. Choose between the two."
The Sun replied, recklessly, "I choose hell, if I may have, for a life,
Helen, Helen of the shining silver hair."
The Sun descended from the high heaven to his sister Helen, and ordered
preparation for his wedding. He put on her forehead the waving gold
chaplet of the bride, he put on her head a royal crown, he put on her
body a transparent robe all embroidered with fine pearls, and they all
went into the church together.
But woe to him, and woe to her! During the service the lights were
extinguished, the bells cracked while ringing, the seats turned
themselves upside down, the tower shook to its base, the priests lost
their voices, and the sacred robes were torn off their backs.
The bride was convulsed with fear. For suddenly, woe to her! an
invisible hand grasped her up, and, having borne her on high, threw her
into the sea, where she was at once changed into a beautiful silver fish.
The Sun grew pale and rose into the heaven. Then descending to the west,
he plunged into the sea to search for his sister Helen, Helen of the
shining silver hair.
However, the Lord God (sanctified in heaven and upon the earth) took the
fish in his hand, cast it forth into the sky, and changed it anew into
the moon.
Then He spoke. And while God was speaking the entire universe trembled,
the peaks of the mountains bowed down, and men shivered with fear.
"Thou, Helen of the long silver tresses, and thou resplendent Sun, who
are both free from all stain, I condemn you for eternity to follow each
other with your eyes through space, without being ever able to meet or to
reach each other upon the road of heaven. Pursue one another for all
time in traveling around the skies and lighting up the world."
* * * * *
Fallen from a high estate by sin, wicked, and therefore wandering: it was
with such a story of being penitent pilgrims, doomed for a certain space
to walk the earth, that the gypsies entered Europe from India, into Islam
and into Christendom, each time modifying the story to suit the religion
of the country which they invaded. Now I think that this sun and moon
legend is far from being frivolous, and that it conforms wonderfully well
with the famous story which they told to the Emperor Sigismund and the
Pope and all Europe, that they were destined to wander because they had
sinned. When they first entered Europe, the gypsies were full of these
legends; they told them to everybody; but they had previously told them
to themselves in the form of the Indian sun and moon story. This was the
root whence other stories grew. As the tale of the Wandering Jew
typifies the Hebrew, so does this of the sun and moon the Romany.