Summer 2024, Session III: Nine Fallen Suns

The third session in our 2024 summer season features a mystery named Nine Fallen Suns.

This is one of two mysteries devoted to the calendar myths of ancient China. The second one is The Moonrabbits, which we are offering in Session IV.

According to Chinese mythology, Yi the Archer shot the Nine Sons of Xi He when the impish Sun Ravens climbed into the sky with their brother (Tenth Sun), threatening to burn the mortal world to a crisp. Thousands of years later, Tenth Sun is now ill, and only his brothers can restore him to health. Can the Heroes of the Dragon's Eye find the nine fallen sons of Xi He, or is the world doomed to a cold and comfortless end?

We will be making our own Sun Ravens.

Nine Fallen Suns - Report

Eight detectives gathered at the Dragon's Eye headquarters for the second mystery of the 2014 summer. "The Nine Fallen Suns" is a story about compassion for nine missing ravens shot from the sky by Yi the Archer in Chinese mythology. Tenth Sun's strength is waning as he carries the burden of ten suns, and he needs his brothers to rekindle his sunspark stone.

I think of this case as a story about compassion--and this group of detectives really took that message to heart. The Turtle Lion named Kung Tan arrived to hugs. The detectives rusted and then burst the metal bars of an iron cage, and then felt so bad, they healed it, breaking the spell they didn't know was there and releasing Iron Ox. There aren't many iron cages left in "Nine Fallen Suns" -- the twenty-one cages that held the nine sun ravens and the twelve moon daughters all became baby oxen.

Even the campus bugs received the love as we stopped for every beautiful moth, beetle, cicada and what-in-the-world-is-that creature. The detectives greeted the campus squirrels with our traditional gesture--and one little squirrel sat down to eat a perfect little white mushroom as Sara and I said hello.

We had fun out of game with the Chaos and Order Spies searching for the Dragon's Eye detectives. The group decided to hide their identity, and became an art camp led by Mrs. Wiggins. Her art instruction must have really helped, because this week's art really flourished. The detectives learned to work with chaos and order in their paintings and the glorious results may be found on the Dragon's Eye Facebook page.

I will remember this special week as the week of hugs and bugs. The mythological world may have been headed into darkness, but our group of detectives brought a special light with them into the underworld! The sun ravens and the moon daughters are home, safe and sound, free to take their turns in the world. Tenth Sun has been healed and the sun spark stones shine with a brighter light.

The Red Crow

The Red Crow
R L McNulty
Micron pen & colored pencil

The first puppet I ever made was a sock puppet that I happily dubbed a red crow. I loved that little bird. My mom gently suggested that maybe it was a cardinal or some other red bird, but I insisted that it was a crow.

Years later, while researching Chinese myths for a play I was writing, I came across the stories of the three-legged red crow that inhabits the sun. Further research into ornithology showed that there are indeed red relatives of the crow in Southeast Asia.

Naturally, I had to write a Dragon's Eye mystery about the red crows/ravens (the Chinese do not distinguish between the two in their myths). "Nine Fallen Suns" is the result -- a response to one of those myths that just ended badly for the crows.

Here is a drawing that bears a striking resemblance to my first puppet. I'll be out this weekend looking for the right red sock. If anyone has a good one, let me know!

[Update: For pictures of the final puppet, visit this album at on the Dragon's Eye Facebook page.

Session III: The Nine Fallen Suns

Moon Daughter
R L McNulty 2014

The third session of the summer involves an adventure inspired by an old Chinese myth about "The Nine Fallen Suns."  Our mystery picks up where the original myth left matters.

Tenth Sun has carried the burden of ten for millenia, and his sunstone needs to be rekindled by his brothers' sunstones. Can the Detectives find them in time to prevent the sun from setting for a final time?

The nine fallen sun ravens is a fascinating myth that is based on the Chinese calendar system. The ancient Chinese reckoned time with both a base five and a base six system. They had a ten-day week based on the sun, and a twelve-day week based on the moon.

This summer, the Detectives will encounter the twelve Moon Daughters on their journey--elusive rabbit girls whose myths have been lost to time. Ten sun raven boys and twelve moon rabbit girls -- a cosmic family in need of a reunion.

It saddens me that while we have the story of the sun ravens, the story of the moon daughters has been lost--I intend to fix that, based on what I know about the myths and calendar system surrounding the story of the sunravens. We'll bring the daughters and the suns home this summer.