Activites: Stories: The Longest Night

The Longest Night

Group Size: any size
Ages: 5-adult
When or where to use activity: Intergenerational Service.
Materials needed: none

Description:

(Please note: I strongly recommend that if this story is used, it be told rather than read.

Intro. What is your favorite holiday? How many winter holidays can you name? Yes there's Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan . . . any others you can think of? There is another kind of a holiday called the winter solstice?

It was just before Christmas. The winter soltice is the longest night of the year, the time when the day is shorter and the night is longer than any other time of the year. The longest night was a very hard and special time for people before they had grocery stores and heated homes. It was hard for them because it was cold and dark and food was hard to come by.

This morning I’ve chosen a story about an unusual boy, who came to know the importance of the longest night of the year.

Story: The Longest Night

Many years ago, there was a boy who was different from other children. Other children liked to play games, and boys especially often tested one another to see who was the strongest. But this boy did not care much for games, and though he would never say so, he felt frightened when others would try to test him to see how strong he was.

The boy liked to take long walks by himself, and his favorite place was a cliff he had found high above water. The boy knew that others had not discovered this place because when he stood on the cliff, he could see large fish swimming through the sunlit water below. If others had known about the place, they would have caught the fish. But as I said, this boy was different. He did not want to catch the fish. He just wanted to see them and be with them.

That’s how he felt about many things--the trees, the sky, the grass, the wind. They made him feel good inside, like he was with friends. Because he was different from other children, the grown-ups would say, “Perhaps he will become ‘One Who Is Set Apart.’ The boy had heard stories about “One Who Is Set Apart.” In the stories, this was always someone who who helped the people in different ways, like making them feel better when they were sick or telling them what they should do if an enemy was about to attack. In the stories, the people had great respect for the “One Who Is Set Apart.”

The boy liked to talk to his grandfather, who knew a lot about the old stories. It was his grandfather who told him that when someone decided to become “One Who Is Set Apart,” they first had to make a long, hard journey. He said that it was easier to pass between the teeth of a great bear than it is to make this journey.

One year, when the boy was old enough, he told his grandfather that he wanted to make this journey. The grandfather said that the journey always begins by leaving home and spending the longest night of the year all alone outside in the dark.

That year, on the evening of the longest night, the boy left his home. He went to the cliff high above the waters. The waters were the dark gray color of trees that have lost their leaves, and the wind and water were still. The sky above turned from white to black as the longest night began. The boy waited a very long time before he saw something moving through the dark trees. It was white and large. The boy sat very still as the figure came closer and closer until he could see that it was a white wolf. The boy was very frightened. The wolf stopped and stood still, staring into the boy’s eyes. Then it turned and walked back into the woods.

It seemed like a long time had passed when the boy got up to walk because his toes and fingers were so cold that they were hurting, and he was afraid that they would become numb and frostbitten. Again, the white wolf came out of the woods, walking slowly toward the boy. The boy was frightened and stood very still. The wolf stared, then walked back into the woods again. A long time passed. There was no moon out, but as the clouds went away, everything became very clear--the white stars against the black sky above, and the white snow next to the black water below.

The boy was very cold and very tired, but he knew that he must not sleep or he could die in the cold. Then, as he stood--tired and gazing at the white and black all around him, something changed. The boy felt like he had become part of the night. He knew that he was part of the night--a part of the black sky and white stars, the black water and white snow. And this did not frighten him. The white wolf came out of the woods and stared at the boy a third time, but this time, the boy was not frightened. . . The wolf was gone now.

The sky was very slowly turning gray on one side where the sun was going to come up. The boy began to hear birds and felt a cold breeze on his face. He had seen the sun rise many times, but this time, he loved its light and warmth in a new way.

A few days later, the grandfather saw the boy playing with the other children. One of the bigger boys came up and tested him, saying “So, do you think you’re tough now that you stayed out all night.” This time, the boy looked steadily at the bigger boy and said “No, I don’t care about being tough.” He was no longer afraid of being tested -- because he now knew the night, and so. . . it had become his friend, and the night was a strong friend.

Later that day, the boy asked his grandfather if he had now completed the hard journey toward becoming “One Who Is Set Apart.” The grandfather said, the journey does not end, but I have been watching you, and you are on the journey.

(Wednesday, January 20, 1999 at 13:21:21 (EST))