Shikuyu the fire king took the body of the wicked Kokai and carried it to Empress Jokwa. Now that her enemy had been vanquished she showered gifts and honours upon Shikuyu and her own soldiers.
However, the troubles of the Kingdom were not yet over.
Kokai had fallen on the rocks of Mount Shy with so much force that the mountain had burst and fire rushed out from the Earth. Unfortunately, because of this, one of the pillars upholding the Heaven broke and that corner of the sky broke and touched the Earth.
Because of the fire bursting from the earth, whole villages were destroyed, rice fields were burnt up and all the people were in great distress.
Empress Jokwa left the capital and she went to the villages where the disaster had occurred.
She found that both Heaven and Earth had been damaged because of Kokai’s actions.
After assessing the damage she sent her people to collect five different coloured stones. The stones were blue, yellow, red, white and black in colour.
She got these stones, boiled them and in a large caldron and made them into a beautiful paste.
With the paste she mended the sky.
After repairing the Earth she summoned the clouds, and after the clouds came down, she mounted the clouds and went heavenward and carried the paste. She carried the paste in a vase, through the skies. She reached the corner of the sky that had been broken and she applied the paste and mended that part too.
After doing that, she came back to Earth and she was sure that now things would go back to normal.
Much to her dismay, it was very dark. Neither the sun nor the moon came out in the skies though the sky and the earth had been repaired.
Not knowing what to do she called all the wise men of the kingdom to know why it was still dark.
The wise man finally figured out that when the road of Heaven had been damaged the Sun and moon had tried to make their daily journey, but they could not.
Now Empress Jokwa had repaired the path of heaven. However, the Sun and the moon did not know that the roads had been repaired. That was why the earth was still dark.
It was finally decided that someone had to go to the Sun and the Moon and tell them that their path had been set right and that they could make their journey every day.
Empress Jokwa sent two wise men as ambassadors with wonderful chariots that she had created by her magic.
These chariots would carry the two wise men across hundreds and thousands of miles into the east because traveling by foot to the Palace of the Sun and the Moon was not possible.
The 2 wise men met the Sun. And the moon in their palace and learn that the Sun and the moon believed that their path had been damaged and that it was dangerous for them to make their usual journey and that was the reason that they had not come to it.
However, the two ambassadors successfully convinced the Sun and the moon that Empress Jokwa had repaired the road with the stones of five colours.
However, the Sun and the Moon still hesitated because one of the pillars of Heaven had been broken.
That was when the two ambassadors told the Sun in the Moon that Empress Jokwa had restored the pillar of Heaven with the legs of a great tortoise and that it was now strong and sturdy.
The Sun and the Moon were convinced and they started their daily journey again and gave light to all of earth.
Adapted from Japanese Folk Tales
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