The Natural Sun
Announcements about our sun and its natural conditions
- Chapter 35 -
The southern belt of the third pair of equatorial belts corresponding to the asteroids
The aforementioned four small, and as it were, scattered planets can also be called dead planets as there are few living beings left on them and those still extant are primarily in the natural condition and quite alien to the spiritual.
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These planets are so small in the natural sense that the largest has a diameter smaller than your moon and their vegetation also is so paltry that nothing exists there apart from a few herbs and lean bushes.
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Only upon the largest of them, is an inferior type of fruit trees found, which however is hardly bigger than your so-called miniature trees and even this species of trees carries meagre fruit, which approximates your beech and stone-pine nuts.
4
The few humans of small stature, comfortably subsist on what their small earth yields them and they clothe themselves with the feathers of a few tame birds (whose meat they consume) and with the skins of a few domestic animals which resemble your rabbits, rats and mice. These are the largest animals upon these cosmic bodies.
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There are also some creeping things, a few flying insects as well as some frog and fish species in the waters, but these animals are not put to use by the sparse inhabitants.
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The dwellings of these people consist of holes in the ground which they cover with all kinds of soft cast-offs, like birds' nests and inside which they lie down together like birds in a nest.
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These hardly sixty centimetre tall humans share the attribute of winter hibernation with some Earth animals, as winter upon these four small earths lasts more than two Earth years, though occasionally it is less, depending on whether their irregular orbit brings them closer to the sun.
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Just how irregular these orbits are can be appreciated from the fact that all four of these planets, during their orbit around the sun swerve between the Mars and Jupiter trajectories, so that any of them can approach the Mars or Jupiter trajectory, notwithstanding these trajectories being many millions of miles apart.
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The reason why these four planets, as it were, forlornly swarm about in space is the erstwhile primordial disintegration of a single planet into four parts, on which occasion many considerable fractions were scattered into the wide cosmic spaces, nearly all the planets as well as the sun receiving notable and some quite substantial particles there from. Four portions nevertheless remained at the location where it burst and were rounded off, receiving a new orbital direction around the sun.
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The few remaining humans together with the few animals and plants shrank upon these so to speak newly formed planets, like the planets themselves.
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Behold, this interloping was necessary to make the third, southern solar equator more comprehensible. What therefore do things look like here?
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This belt markedly differs from its corresponding northern belt. For firstly, besides the mountain circle it is already cut off at the second southern belt by a wide circular water as well. Then after this there is an exceedingly mountainous region with few plains, and even these are covered with water. At one point this land is also divided by wide waters between the two mountain rings in such a way that it is not possible for the respective populations to reach each other because the inlet of the actual circular sea is so extensive at this place, that your most hardy global sailors would not venture over them; firstly on account of the extensive waters and especially secondly because at these bays the sea is constantly storm driven, creating waves higher than your highest mountains over which not even the most courageous of your Earth seamen would venture.
13
These four lands, divided from each other, so to say, are at the same time the most meagre upon the entire sun, and are inhabited by the smallest people dwelling upon the sun. No splendour is to be seen here; except for the sun-wide spread of the sun's own evenly distributed light.
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Here too, people have no dwellings, digging holes for themselves into the mountains with openings shaped like cut cones, fitted out inside like nests, serving as resting places for the people. When these nests are worn out they are replaced by new ones.
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The vegetation is just as meagre consisting of a few herbs and bush-like tree species, yielding abundant fruit comparable to your hazelnuts and almonds. No juicy fruit is to be found, except for the root of one herb that resembles your white beet but on a smaller scale, being the only juicy nutrition found upon this solar belt.
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The animal kingdom is just as scanty upon this belt and the inhabitants have only two species of four-footed domestic animals. One in the shape of your Zobel but with richer and finer wool. The latter is made into scanty clothing like your cotton wool. They spread the wool over an even surface like stone (the ground here being very stony) pressing the wool flat and covering it was a sticky juice obtained from a root. This binds the threads and makes them lasting, as if covered with your liquid rubber. Fairly long and broad panels are produced and simple clothing cut there from consisting of a somewhat stiff apron around the loins, covering the private parts, everything else being left uncovered.
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These people's shape is not actually repulsive and the women look quite decent but the people are no bigger than your five to six year olds.
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Their preferred habitation is the fairly high regions because they are very afraid of the water. They also think that on seeing the water this is near the end of the world and that the waters gleaned from the high sea waves will gradually rise hence they prefer higher ground.
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This sums up the special land features and their human habitability. It hardly needs mentioning that no air-inhabitants are found anywhere, but there are aerial creatures above the waters, which are also inhabited by all kinds of marine animals.
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Knowing this, only the national domestic and religious practices are left to relate following which we shall have covered everything of note upon this equator.
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Regarding social constitutions this is restricted to the few families spreading out sufficiently to avoid property or border disputes.
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Within families, the oldest male is the elder in charge as it were, guiding all other family members allocating special tasks to all individuals.
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Their hand tools consist of no more than a small earthen shovel. The earthen tools are laid out in the more intense sun's rays making them stone hard and ready for immediate use.
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These are used mainly for digging holes in the mountains in which to live. They are sometimes used for cutting and chopping their clothing and thirdly, they dig up roots and herbs with them.
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Having, as it were, combed the milk out of the miniature cow, they let the mild-natured animal forage for its food. They then mix crushed fruit from their miniature trees into it, preparing a most tasty mush, grasping it with their hands to eat.
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That's the extent of their domestic system so we have their social and domestic practices in one blow, as it were.
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Their religion is just as simple as their political and domestic constitution.
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They believe in a God who, according to their concepts is an immensely big, perfect and exceedingly mighty Man being aware of heaven and earth as made by this perfect Man.
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They are exceedingly humble and fearful and hence also greatly fear this exceptionally perfect Man; they are also aware of heaven and hell, and their immortality.
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They fear hell exceedingly but always regard themselves as too evil for heaven. Thus they also have a great fear of physical death, seeking to maintain life as long as possible.
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Some of their Elders occasionally have visible communication with the deceased people of their kind, but are not over joyous about these appearances, taking it as an indication that they will soon have to leave their world.
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When these spirits tell them that yonder perfect Man has received them most lovingly, they are indeed cheered by it, but always regard themselves as unworthy of such grace, saying: we are too insignificant for such a Lord to even look at us, not to mention receive us into a higher grace out of Himself.
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Hence they pray eagerly and say thanks for everything they enjoy, for every paltry fruit picked from their trees and even for every little herb they remove from the earth they are most fervently thankful, constantly regarding themselves as unworthy of this present, not being able to understand how this exceedingly perfect Man should be so well-disposed towards them.
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Behold, in this consists their entire religious sacraments. If you will insist on actual ceremony then that would be the ceremony of the marriage union.
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This in turn consists of no more than a mutual embrace followed by a family Elder's blessing, then a communal thanksgiving and finally by sexual intercourse, which function is counted amongst the most sacred ceremonies.
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Their dead are wrapped in all kinds of herbs and holes are dug for them like their dwelling at a lower level, placing the body in the open grave. They add herbs for food in case the dead reawaken.
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They indeed visit these graves in groups; but on account of the very rapid decomposition of the bodies and therefore finding no trace of their deceased they think that the deceased either reawakened and wandered off somewhere or that they were picked up by spirits.
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Therefore they pray for their departed frequently, wishing them the best of luck with all their heart.
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This sums up everything about this planet; wherefore we shall move on and step out upon the fourth equatorial belt next time, where we shall have to tarry a little longer as we shall again get to see great things there. And so we will leave it for today!