The Sun and the Stars Lyrics
At sunset the sun tells a star he is going out of the sky. The little star, who is as old as the sun, answers that the sun cannot go out; he is only shining somewhere else. The stars laugh at the joke, and at dawn the sun gets his turn to tease them back.
The Sun and the Stars
One day, when the sun was going down,
He said to a star hard by:
"Sparkle your best; for you see, my friend,
I'm going out of the sky."
Now, the little star was old as the sun,
Though rather small of his age,
So he kept quite still in the yellow light,
And looked as wise as a sage.
"I'm going, you see!" cried the sun again,
"Going right out of the sky!"
And he slid away, but not out of sight
Of that little star hard by.
The little star, peeping, saw him go
On his gorgeous western way;
And twinkled with fun, as he said, "O Sun!
You're in for another day!
"And as for going out of the sky,
Your majesty knows you can't;
You are shining somewhere, full and strong,
In spite of your rays aslant."
No answer. Then the star grew bright,
And sparkled as neighbors came;
He told the joke to the twinkling crowd,
And they laughed the sun to shame.
One gay little star was so amused,
That he shot across the sky;
And all the others bobbed and blinked
To see him go speeding by.
But after awhile, a rosy light
Appeared on the eastern side;
And, one by one, the stars grew shy,
And tried in the sky to hide.
"Ho! ho!" the sun broke forth. "Ho! ho!
Just stay where you are, my dears,
And shine away, for you can't be seen
When all of my light appears.
"The people below will say you are gone,
Though you're shining. Think of that!
Well, they thought all night I had left the sky,
So it's only tit for tat."
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/the-sun-and-the-stars/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Written by
- Mary Mapes Dodge
- Tune
- Two voices: a grand, booming sun and a small, twinkly star, with a chuckle at the last line
- Best for ages
- 4 to 8 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| Sparkle your best; | Open and close both hands quickly in front of you, like twinkling stars. |
| And he slid away, | Lower one flat hand slowly from high up to low down, like the sun setting. |
What Does The Sun and the Stars Mean?
The joke at the heart of this poem is true. The sun tells a star he is "going out of the sky", but the star knows better: the sun is not going out, he is shining somewhere else, full and strong. When the sun sets over here, it is still daytime for someone else. The star twinkles with fun and calls the sun's bluff, and the other stars laugh the sun to shame.
Then the poem turns around. At dawn the sun answers the shy stars: stay where you are and shine away, for you cannot be seen when all his light appears. People below say the stars are gone, though they are shining, just as they thought all night that the sun had left. The last line calls it tit for tat, an even return: each side teases the other the same way. A few words are old or fancy. A sage is a wise person, and rays aslant means beams that slope low, the way the sun's do at the end of the day.
History and Origin
Mary Mapes Dodge's Rhymes and Jingles has a copyright line of 1874 and a title page dated 1875. This poem runs to forty lines in ten verses.
Learning Activities
- Two voices: read the sun in a deep, proud voice and the star in a small, bright one, and swap parts the second time.
- Sky watch: at dusk, look out of a window together as the light fades and see which star appears first. Never look straight at the sun.
- Sun and star picture: draw the sun low on one side of the paper and a small star on the other, with a speech bubble each.
- Tit for tat: take turns teasing each other with one silly line, such as the sun's boast and the star's reply.