© Daniel S. Wall, September 19, 2026.

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This is Chapter 5 of the most authoritative account of creation contained in the Stone Philosophic. A full table of contents can be found here.

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And Taiyo made his first appearance in this world, bringing with him the sun itself.

“Come, my love,” Mirona called out to the great dragon, “for I have born you a son.” Hetht returned, and all enjoyed the bright sunlight of the first day. Taiyo grew to the full stature of a man. Hetht slept and ate as he always did, and for a time Mirona seemed still and content. But the day was long, and all of them grew tired, as did the trees, the birds, the grasses, and the very ground itself.

“Mother, do not forget me!” Cried a voice from Mirona’s womb.

“Who is that?” She answered.

“Tis I” spoke Kotoya. And thus, Mirona gave birth to her second son.

Seeking to play, Kotoya bothered his tired mother. Smiling and dancing about, Kotoya irritated his father, and then his brother. Finally, Taiyo chased his brother away. But when he left, Kotoya took the sun with him.

And finally, the others slept.

When Taiyo awoke, he searched everywhere for the sun. Finding it hidden beneath the eastern corner of the world, Taiyo took the glowing orb from his sleeping brother and set it high in the sky, but Kotoya took it from him later that evening and carried it once more beneath the earth far to the west. Thus has it ever been between the two brothers, each claiming the sun for a time only to lose it to the other in the course of the day.[1]

In time, Mirona once again grew sour and angry, and the world withered and froze under the weight of her misery. Then she gave birth to a daughter, Iñacha, whose cries could be heard in the far corners of the world.

“My sister, what is wrong?” asked Taiyo.

“I am hungry,” she answered. “My mother is angry and she will not feed me.”

The Shark King brought her fish, but Iñacha could only cry. “I cannot eat this.” In despair the great shark swam away.

Ayomichi brought her fruits and vegetables, but Iñacha spurned him. Unable to bear the sadness of his half sister, Ayomichi too crawled back into the sea.

Hetht inquired, “Will you not feed our daughter?”

But Mirona answered him with silence.

Finally, Kotoya brought his sister a bowl of milk.[2] And he took her to the west whereupon the two fashioned a home for themselves and called it the moon.

“For them and theirs,” said Hetht, “but that must never happen again.” To this Mirona heartily agreed, but Taiyo grew angry. It was enough that his brother took the sun from him every evening. Now this!

Still, the great dragon had spoken. His word was law.

The following Winter Mirona gave birth to another girl, Lady Spider. Seeing her mother in a foul mood, Lady Spider crawled to her father for sustenance, and Hetht bade her to drink blood from his palm, sheltering her from the cold wind that Mirona called up.

It was that spring that Mirona conceived Osun, and it was in the winter that Osun was born, All who looked upon her knew at once the meaning of love. All but Mirona, lost as she was in a winter mood.

Upon her birth Osun too found only her mother’s cold shoulder.[3] The young goddess cried in the snow until Lady Spider spun her a blanket for shelter and Kotoya brought her a pitcher of milk for sustenance. Osun too survived to see her mother become kind once again. From her mother and her sister, Lady Spider, Osun soon learned the medicinal powers of plants, and she became a great healer.

The following winter, the world trembled at the coming birth of Bivishta. Mountains fell and forests burned as this child danced out of the womb and into the world, but soon fresh peaks grew and wondrous new gardens flourished in the wake of her passing. All grew to fear this new child even as they marveled at her creations.

Finally Mirona gave birth to Eleenian who suffered her mother’s winter without complaint. She loved each of her brothers and sisters and learned from each, she quickly learned all that they had to teach her, making herself a blessing to all who encountered her.

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[1] Scholars differ as to the nature of the exchange. Some describe the passage of the sun from Taiyo to Kotoya as a peaceful and cooperative hand-off. Others suggest that this always a kind of theft, albeit one aided by the exhaustion of each deity at the end of efforts to carry the sun. By most accounts, a solar eclipse occurs when Taiyo and Kotoya actually fight over it. Few would suppose that this could be a fight to the death, but brother’s being brothers, it should surprise nobody to see them scuffle over an item clearly of interest to both.

 

[2] The question arises; where did Kotoya get the milk? In truth, nobody knows. The question  itself gave rise to at least one civil war, after which the Torturer’s Guild was given the task of putting the matter to rest. Nobody now speaks openly on the matter, at least not in the Sunset Isles. Being largely found in the Turtle Islands, Kotoya’s followers are of course free to discuss the matter, but most seem to regard it as a pointless inquiry.

[3] It is sometimes suggested that Osun chose to make the Cradle Islands her home as a direct result of her birth in the winter of her mother’s moods. For their own part, the cult of Osun has always maintained that she was born to the Cradle Islands at the outset. Some have argued that the entire archipelago was once subject to colder seasons than one finds there now. Some have suggested that Osun was born on the highest mountain in those isles, a location that does know the meaning of winter even today. Wherever she was born, few could doubt that Osun belongs to these Isles, and visa versa.