The Moon is Like a Boyand the Sun is Like a Girl
And God created the two great luminaries… the great light… and the small light. —Genesis 1:16 Originally, the sun and moon were created of equal size, but the moon protested, and so God made it smaller. —Midrash Rabbah But He…
The Lazy Girl and the Butter-Yellow Pot
Everything is finished before it has happened, everything is finished before it has happened…. The young girl in red sang to herself. Carrying a butter-yellow pot, she shielded her eyes from the blossoming sun and looked out into the graceful…
Out of the Box: How Raven gave light to the world
Before I gave birth to the child, I lived alone with my father in a cold world of eternal night. Outside the door of our longhouse a thick blackness covered the earth. It was so dark that when I took…
Healing Water Goddesses
Water is crucial to all life on Earth, and from the earliest records of human history we have venerated its healing and regenerative powers. It is no surprise that many healing water deities are goddesses: the life-giving, wellness-nurturing properties of…
Suvannavanna Hamsa Jataka: The Golden Swan
Prologue Long, long ago, in the far distant past, the Bodhisatta was born as a swan.1 He grew up to become the leader of a great flock of swans. They were known as the Dhatarattha clan. Their feathers were the…
O My Country!, A Maghreb folktale, Retold by Anne Twitty
From the Metropolitan Museum of Art. King Salomon knew the language of all living creatures, and all obeyed him, especially the birds. One day this great…
The Brave Little Parrot, Retold by Rafe Martin
Anonymous | Buddhist Long ago, a little grey parrot lived in a green forest. She was a happy bird, and loved to fly. One day a dark storm hovered over…
Izanagi and Izanami, a Japanese myth, Retold by Paul Jordan-Smith
Searching the Seas with the Tenkei (天瓊を以て滄海を探るの図 Tenkei o motte sōkai o saguru no zu). Painting by Kobayashi Eitaku, 1880-90 (MFA, Boston). The story of Izanagi…
Ave Maria, by Jenny Koralek
Vincent Van Gogh, Pietà (after Eugène Delacroix). 1889. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam As the following passage begins, Jesus of Nazareth, here called Yeshua, is suffering on the…
The Thanksgiving Prayer, Adapted from the Mohawk
Illustration by John Kahionhes Fadden THE THANKSGIVING PRAYER Adapted from the Mohawk by John Stokes and David Kanawahienton Benedict The People Today we have gathered and…
The Unasked Question, Retold by Paul Jordan-Smith
From The Boy’s King Arthur, 1922. N.C. Wyeth Anonymous | Medieval European “AND WOE TO HIM who failed to ask the question burning in his heart.…
The Demands of the Way, by Tcheslaw Tchekhovitch
IN THE EARLY 1920S during the Bolshevik Revolution, Tcheslaw Tchekhovitch, a young officer in the army of the Tsar, settled in Constantinople. Haunted by the barbarity and violence of war,…
Ring of Wisdom, a Sufi Parable, Retold by Anne Twitty
Babur Receives a Courtier by Farrukh Beg c. 1580-85. There was a king whose kingdom stretched from east to west, from the sea below to the…
The Lazy Girl and the Butter-Yellow Pot
Everything is finished before it has happened, everything is finished before it has happened…. The young girl in red sang to herself. Carrying a butter-yellow pot, she shielded her eyes…
Hagoromo, Retold by Kenneth Lawrence, translated by Kai Lawrence. Art by Kumiko Lawrence
Illustration by Kumiko Lawrence Attributed to Zeami Motokiyo | Japanese Noh Retold by Kenneth E. Lawrence Translated by Edward Kai Lawrence Art by Kumiko Lawrence A…
Tsunemasa, Retold by Kenneth Lawrence with Artwork by Kumiko Lawrence
Artwork by Kumiko Lawrence Attributed to Zeami Motokiyo | Japanese Noh Retold by Kenneth E. Lawrence Translated by Edward Kai Lawrence Art by Kumiko Lawrence When…
The Way of the Householder, Retold by Rama Devagupta
Photograph by Hans Eiskonen Anonymous Hindu Long, long ago in a holy forest, there lived a young ascetic named Kaushika. Because he had renounced the worldly…
Suvannavanna Hamsa Jataka: The Golden Swan
Prologue Long, long ago, in the far distant past, the Bodhisatta was born as a swan.1 He grew up to become the leader of a great flock of swans. They…
The First Tears, an Eskimo folktale, Retold by Anne Twitty
Photo by Steve Halama One day First Man went out seal hunting along the seashore. He saw many seals. He chose a seal, and carefully crept…