Long, long ago there were four Suns in the sky and these used to give so much heat that no crops could grow and everything was dried up. So one day the people held a meeting and resolved to destroy three of the four Suns, for the heat and light of one would be quite enough. They chose eight brave men and sent them with two dogs to destroy the Suns up in the sky.

The party set out on their long journey to the sky and when they reached there, they fought with the three Suns, after defeating them, threw their bodies into a river.

But this took a very long time and the climate of the sky did not suit them. So they left one of the dogs whose name was Tafyeo in the sky to guard the Sun and went back home. On this terrible journey, seven of them died and only one man and one dog returned to earth to tell the people what had happened to the three Suns. When the people heard the news there was great rejoicing on earth, for they had suffered greatly from the heat of the Suns.

The fourth Sun who remained in the sky was very sad at the death of his comrades and wept day and night for them. This made him pale and thin and he did not give enough heat and light to the world. When the dog Tafyeo saw this he jumped up at him and tore off a bit of its flesh. Even since then, Tafyeo bites the Sun once a year to remind him to perform his duties. This is what causes the eclipse.”

A Folkstory from Arunachal Pradesh sourced from the book Myths of the North-East Frontier of India compiled by Elwin Verrier .

Click here to submit your Folklore.