Long ago, before fishermen used stars to steer, the sky was a dark canvas without pattern. The people of Dauan Island fished by memory, and sometimes by luck, but the sea was treacherous — it swallowed canoes without warning.
Among the people lived a wise woman named Eperi, who knew the rhythm of tides and could sense storms by scent alone. Yet even she lost her husband one season to the black water.
Each night she climbed the hill and called to the sky, “You see everything — why do you not guide us home?”
But the sky was silent.
One night, while she wept beside her fire, a small ember drifted upward, rising higher and higher until it vanished. Then, to her wonder, another appeared, hanging in the heavens like a faint spark.
Eperi whispered, “My husband’s fire.”
She began to feed her hearth every night, letting one spark fly upward for each fisherman lost to the sea. The children of the island joined her, sending their own tiny embers into the wind.
Weeks passed, and soon the night above Dauan shimmered with light — the first stars. The people rejoiced, for now the ocean glowed faintly, guiding them even through moonless nights.
But Eperi noticed something strange. When storms approached, the stars dimmed. When the sea was calm, they shone bright. “They are watching the water,” she said. “They warn us when danger comes.”
Word spread to neighboring islands, and soon others sent their own embers skyward. The constellations grew — fish, canoes, warriors, birds — until the heavens became a mirror of the islands below.
Before long, no fisherman was ever truly lost again, for the stars of their ancestors lit the way home.
And when Eperi grew old, she built one last fire on the shore. “I will go where the light never drowns,” she said, smiling.
At dawn, her children found her canoe empty, drifting out to sea. That night, a new star appeared above Dauan, brighter than the rest, and it pulsed with the rhythm of a heartbeat.
The islanders named it Eperi’s Light — guardian of those who sail between the worlds.
Moral of the Story
Guidance born from grief becomes light for others. What we lose can still show others the way.
Knowledge Check
- Who was Eperi?
A wise woman of Dauan Island who lost her husband to the sea. - How did the stars first appear?
From the embers of fires sent skyward by grieving villagers. - What did the stars begin to do?
They brightened or dimmed to warn of storms or calm seas. - How did this help the islanders?
They learned to navigate safely using the stars’ guidance. - What happened to Eperi at the end?
She sailed away and became a new star — Eperi’s Light. - What lesson does this story teach?
That sorrow transformed through love becomes lasting guidance.
Origin: Dauan Island, Torres Strait (Torres Strait Islander oral tradition)
