She stands tall, authoritative yet unassuming. She is gentle in her manner, always curious, never threatening. Her feet are firmly anchored over the Southern pole as she travels among the stars. She appears just when the Sun of the day has slipped away. She’s with us all night, rotating ever so slightly until practically standing on her head. Travelers of the Southern hemisphere use her to find true South. Four stars make up her kite shaped head and two her long neck. An imaginary line from the back of her head to the tip of her nose intersects with one that runs perpendicular to the middle of her long neck dropping unabashedly to the earth at precisely true South. No matter what time of the night or angle of her head and neck, it never fails.
The bushmen of the Kalahari say that she was placed there as a reward for her selfless good deed. During the time when man and animals talked, the Sun behaved in such erratic and unpredictable ways. He would rise sometimes in the East, other times in the West. He would set North or South with a force from a gust wind. There was no pattern. No plan. He would stay up at times for minutes and others for days. The uncertainty of it caused great chaos. All living things were bewildered. That is, until, Giraffe offered to stand up and show Sun the way.
She pointed to her height as the key to the dilemma. With confidence she claimed that she would guide Sun to rise in the East and set in the West. Tall, helpful, with the patience of a guiding parent, she invited Sun to join her in her journey across the sky. She reached with her long neck to show Sun the way. Smooth. Well paced. Predictable. The world rejoiced. All living things benefitted from her diligence. Day after day until Sun understood.
With the routine in place, Sun rising and setting daily with utter certainty, Giraffe’s job was finished. And for her efforts she was placed in the sky to guide others who might need help finding their way. She was quite pleased.
