Haya-ji and the Star People
A Myth of the Old World

A long time ago, when humans were very new to this world, there was a time when gods and spirits walked the Earth freely, when they were born and died and they quarreled and ruled, just like humans do today.  They were called many different names by peoples all over the Earth, but they were always the same no matter what they were called.  This story takes place in a land which no longer exists, inhabited by a people who worshipped the stars.

High above the Earth, in the realm the gods call their home, there lived a powerful old wind goddess with a mischievous son named Haya-ji.  Haya-ji was about to come of age, and the tradition of the gods was that he got to choose an aspect of his mother's power to become lord of.  He had many choices, but he decided to become the god of the whirlwind, because that gave him the most power to cause trouble.

His mother worried about his choice, but because of the tradition she was unable to stop him from choosing what he wanted.  She tried to convince him to change his mind, though.  She asked him "Don't you want to be a helpful god?  One who brings spring rain over the horizon, or one who lifts the mighty eagle high into the sky on his majestic wings?  One who brings favorable wind to sailors on the open sea?  Don't you want to be good?

Haya-ji just scowled.  "Those powers sound boring and dull.  I want to be a god humans will tell tales about, one who rises tempests and creates adventures.  I don't want to be remembered as the god who made some ships move faster."  And with that, he took the power of the whirlwind from his mother and set off for the world.  The wind goddess watched after him and cried, and cried and cried, for she knew what was in store for him.

Haya-ji, being a wind god, hated staying in one place, so he zoomed across the sky at amazing speeds, looking down at the tiny human creatures far below him.  Remembering his new power, he decided to play a trick on a small village to see how powerful he really was.  He created a small tornado outside the village and told it to circle it, slowly getting closer to the primitive homes.

The people of the village had never seen a tornado before, and so they all ran into their houses and closed the doors, and high above, Haya-ji could hear them praying to his mother, the wind goddess.  Haya-ji was angry because they were not praying to him, so he told the tornado to sweep through the village and destroy it.  He knocked down all the homes as well as the village center, but he left everyone alive and terrified, so they could spread his story across the world.  He told them that he was Haya-ji, the god of the whirlwind, and that if all people across the world did not revere him, he would destroy their villages in the same manner he had brought this one to ruin.

The people of the ruined village did spread the word, and soon villages all across the world were praying to Haya-ji to spare them from his wrath.  He would cross the sky and watch them shout to the heavens, and he was content.

There was one nation, though, that did not revere him as he had commanded.  The Star People openly condemned Haya-ji, saying that he was just a troublemaker and that he had no real power.  This defiance angered Haya-ji, and he flew to the nation of the Star People, demanding to speak to their chief.  He emerged from the largest hut, a wizened old man in a black cloak, covered in abalone beads.  He looked Haya-ji in the eye, and told him "What you are doing is wrong, and you must stop or risk the wrath of the other gods."

Haya-ji was furious.  He told the other chief that he was a fool to give a god an order, but the old chief looked right back and said "You are not a god, you are just a troublemaker.  If you are a god, prove it to me."

"Yes, and how might I do that?"

"I challenge you to use one of your whirlwinds to sweep the stars out of the sky.  If you can do this, I will acknowledge you as a god.  Do you accept?"

Haya-ji left the village of the Star People without responding to the chief's question.  He disappeared into the sky for three days, working on creating the largest storm ever imagined.  He swirled air around and around and around until all the air in the world was spinning around the village of the Star People.  On the third night of his work, he blew it all across the sky, and swept all the stars out of the air and down to Earth.  They flew over the ground like embers from a fire, and the Star People all rushed out of their homes and ran after the stars, trying to catch them and throw them back into the sky.

When Haya-ji's mother learned of what he had done, her sadness and grief were so great that she soon died and ceased to be.  As she died, she passed on the rest of her power to her son, who fully became the wind god.  This saddened Haya-ji for a moment, but when he experienced his newly inherited powers, his sadness disappeared and he prepared to descend to the village of the Star People and proclaim his victory to the chief.

He never got the chance, though.  At this time, the Star God found Haya-ji, and his eyes blazed with the fire of a red giant as he spoke.  "Haya-ji, you have caused much pain to my children, the stars.  My grandchildren are running all over the world to gather them again, but I fear that they will never retrieve all of them before their people disappear.  The rest of the gods and I have decided that you are to be punished.  Therefore, until the last human being ceases to be on this Earth, you may not reenter the realm of the Gods.  You are confined to Earth, god of the wind, to reflect on what you have done, and to reconcile with those you have hurt.  Now, leave this place.”

Haya-ji had no choice but to leave.

True to the Star God's word, the Star People were never able to collect all the stars before their land disappeared and they ceased to be, and so the remaining stars still drift where there is no wind, trying to find their way back to the sky.  Today, we call them fireflies, and you will only see them when Haya-ji is not around, for they will always be afraid of his winds.  Haya-ji still roams the Earth, in the form of tornadoes, and hurricanes, and all manner of windstorms.  He shows his anger at his fellow gods for confining him here on Earth, and here he will remain until the rest of our people cease to be, when he can finally return home.