The Origin of Day and Night

A world-building story, this is the tale of the origin of night and day. There is Tiri, the Arctic Fox, who loves to hunt for its food at night. Fortunately, it has strong bright eyes and has no problems catching prey and satisfying its fill. In fact, Tiri loves the night so much, he speaks out magical words and makes it night all the time. But then there is Ukalik, the Arctic hare, who eats moss and other things during the day and relishes the sun and the light. Tiri wants the day to end and the night to come to hunt but Ukalik wants the reverse. Eventually the two made a bargain, to give each other time they needed to feed, and so was born the day and the night.

An endearing tale brought down the generations through oral storytelling, it is an origin story made for children with some wonderful artwork using heavy swathes of blacks and whites, along with occasional hints of yellow. The wording is simple and not too long to keep one’s child interested in the story. Perhaps the only lacking is a final page on the whether this is an Inuit tale or where the story first began; it would serve as a great opportunity to educate one’s child about indigenous people and the oral tradition.