A story of “falling from the sky”

One day， when the sun was about to set， I saw two children pointing to the sun and saying， “Look， the sun is falling.” The word “falling” that came out of their mouths hit me. How vivid and pictorial the description of “falling” is！ We adults， the grown children， often say that the sun goes down or the sun sets， but never think of such a spiritual and vibrant expression as “the sun falls”. “Fall” is a word that can only come out of the mouth from a child who sees the world with innocent eyes.

What will happen if the sun falls？ I pictured animals trying to stop the sun from falling ? that’s the origin of the story that the sun falls from the sky.

Someone might ask， why are these animals the protagonists？ Why does it happen on a mountain？ In my opinion， a “mountain” is the earliest and the most primitive habitat for animals and human beings， and it is the presentation of our most authentic state. Every animal has its own living territory， such as birds in the sky， monkeys on the top of the mountain， squirrels in the treetops， cattle in the hillside， pandas in the valley， kangaroos at the foot of the mountain and cats on the ground ... Layer by layer， the change of environment can be clearly felt through the change of their habitat and food. Thus， the flow of time can be perceived and the development of the story is connected from morning to night.

Zhu Chengliang， the illustrator of the book， once said， “The animals in the story are all silly.” I especially like the word “silly”， which captures the spirit behind the story. We know many “silly” stories. For example， the monkeys in story “Monkeys Fishing for the Moon” are silly， the Yu Gong in story “Yu Gong Removes the Mountains” is silly， and the protagonist Gump in Forrest Gump is silly. Being silly actually means they do something that seems impossible to ordinary people and “do it when they know it can’t be done”. In fact， to be silly means to be natural， immature， and also fearless like a child.