Spring 2005 (13.1)
Page 69

Legends from Azerbaijan
The Sun and Moon
by Sadnik Pirsultanli


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Left: Babadagh (Grandfather Mountain) is the fourth highest peak in the Caucasus in Azerbaijan at 3,629 meters. It is located north of Ismayilli. At the top is a "pir" (sacred place) dedicated to Hasrat Baba, a person recered as a holy man, who is believed to have lived during the period when the area was known as Caucasian Albania. Photo: John Connor.

Told by Rajab Safar oghlu Ramazanov, 73, in Lankaran, close to the Iranian border.

They say that one day a man went hunting but he couldn't find anything. Finally, he came to a pond. A beautiful girl was sitting on the opposite side. The girl was so beautiful that the Hunter couldn't stop looking at her. Eventually, he approached her and started to talk with her.

The girl said that her name was Sun (Gunash). So the Sun and the Hunter spoke together for awhile. When it started to get dark, the Hunter offered Sun to be his guest. Sun accepted the invitation. They came together to his house. The Hunter was very respectful towards Sun. Sun stayed there overnight. In the morning, the guest woke up before the host did. When she went outside, she cast her light all around. That awakened the host.

When he looked at Sun, the light dazzled his eyes. The Hunter couldn't approach her. That made Sun feel shy about her beauty and so she returned to her room. The Hunter told his neighbors about his guest and said that it was difficult to come close to her.

One of his neighbors insisted: "I can catch her. You'll see." Sun again stayed at Hunter's house. The next morning, Hunter and his neighbor waited for Sun to come outside. Again when Sun went outside, she cast her light around. The Hunter's neighbor also realized that it would be very difficult to come close to Sun. Her light blinded their eyes. Eventually, the Hunter's neighbor started to shoot arrows at her. One of the arrows wounded Sun in the heart. Sun started to run away and went to live in the upper regions of the sky. There she took off her dress and hung it up. To this day, the spots of blood on her dress can be seen as a rainbow in the sky that appears after rain.

The Hunter was disappointed and started to look for Sun but couldn't find her. They say that Hunter was really the Moon and his guest was the Sun that casts light to the world, making our lives more beautiful and more vivacious.
Sometimes you can see that the Moon is trying to wait until morning to disappear because he is hoping to apologize to the Sun for his behavior. But he has never succeeded. It has never happened because Sun always manages to run away.


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