The Sunchild

Hey guys!  I apologize for the lateness of this post, as well as the lack of pictures.  I'll do my best to add them in the next day or two.  I suffered a hand injury at work, which is making typing difficult, and also wound up helping out a friend who was in the ER.  Thanks for bearing with me, and again, I'm sorry.

Today's story can be found in The Grey Fairy Book, and has its origins in a Greek fairy tale known as Maroula.

There once was a woman who had no children. She begged the Sun to send her a daughter, promising that he could reclaim the girl when she turned twelve. The Sun gave her a child named Letiko.

Letiko and her mother lived happily until the girl turned twelve, at which point the Sun reminded the woman of her bargain. She attempted to hide the girl from the Sun, blocking all light from entering her house. In her haste she forgot to block the keyhole. A beam of sunlight entered the house and took Letiko. The woman mourned fiercely.

The girl was taken back to her father's house. He often sent her on tasks, but she took a very long time on them. She would sit and cry instead of completing them.  Her tears were because she missed her mother so much.

One day her father followed her on one of her tasks, curious as to why she took so long at them. Overhearing her sorrowful weeping, he decided to send Letiko back to her mother. He tasked two hares with escorting the girl back to her earthly home. Though a lamia attempted to kill and eat the girl on the trip, they managed to make it back to the village.

A dog, a cat, and a cock who lived in the village all announced that Letiko had returned, but her mother refused to believe it, still caught up in her grief. Only when the girl was before her did she accept the truth. The hares were rewarded for returning her daughter to her. Letiko and her mother lived the rest of their days together in happiness.

Thanks for reading through my Fairy Tales Without Dead Moms (Or Wicked Stepmothers!) series!  These are some of the stories which show that good mothers do exist in fairy tales – and even sometimes survive the whole tale!  Which one was your favorite?  Do you know of any that I missed?  Let me know in the comments!

I plan to return to mythology for a while after this.  I'll see you then!