Once Upon a Time - A Folktale for the Solstice

An epic planet-wide battle between bitter cold and live-giving warmth

Dec 18, 2023

An updated version of this essay can be found here

The winter solstice can be a time for retelling old tales by the fireside or around the table; stories that can preserve family histories, and keep vibrant the memories of those we have lost.

Folktales and fables are more general stories that can also pass wisdom and experience to the next generation in the guise of beguiling stories. Does it matter if they are true? As a man of the cloth once told me – “All stories are true – some actually happened.”

Here, then, is a solstice tale about our Earth and its history, and about a near miss that could have precluded our being here at all. This story actually did happen – more than 500 million years ago.

There is a climate connection, as you will see – and appropriately for deep winter, the tale is about a battle between killing cold and life-giving warmth. I hope you will indulge the presence of a solstice folktale on a site about science! I’ve had fun with it.

A good tale often pits good against evil with enough danger and doubt to unsettle those younger listeners and keep them entranced. They eagerly await, and expect, that good will win out in the end and the story will conclude with “they all lived happily ever after.”

It’s not unlike the comforting thought that, on this solstice night, our part of the world has turned again toward the sun and we are headed to a new spring.

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This is the story of a Rock circling a Sun in a cold universe.

There is one bad actor – Albedo – who wants to freeze that Rock and rule over a barren and frozen, lifeless orb.

And there are initially three forces for good. Aquatania and Terra who want to harbor and protect and encourage life, and the mysterious, ghost-like Carbonica who, though invisible, helps defeat the evil Albedo by warming the Rock.

And as all good tales do, this one begins with –

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Once upon a time there was a brilliant, shining Sun – not too big and not too small, and very much like billions of others in the vast reaches of the empty, cold universe. This Sun beamed a glorious glow in all directions – creating a light that could be seen millions of miles away. There was abundant warmth-giving energy in that light.

Like many of its neighbors, the Sun had gathered to itself smaller bits of space matter – Starstuff created in the infernos of other stars’ explosive deaths – that grew into 4 rocky planets, 2 swirling gassy giants that also wanted to be suns, but weren’t quite big enough, and 2 distant frozen worlds.

But one Rock was very, very special. This Rock was home to both Terra and Aquatania.

Terra was massive, solid, and multicolored and could be found on most other space rocks as well.

But what made this Rock so special was that it was also home to Aquatania, fluid and flowing, who filled the uneven surfaces of Terra with a beautiful liquid that gave this special Rock its unique blue color.

Together, Terra and Aquatania graciously received the warmth and energy given to them by the Sun, creating something unique in this Sun’s neighborhood - a place where the extremes of the cold, violent, empty universe were held at bay – a place of warmth and stability.

And they had another friend to help them with this task.

Carbonica was an invisible, ghost-like being that floated freely amidst the clouds in the air above Terra and Aquitania. Carbonica’s power was to take in and store the heat that escaped from the Sun-warmed surfaces of the Rock. That heat was given back to the surface instead of being lost into the dark void of space. Carbonica helped keep both Aquatania and Terra warm.

Together, these three heroes created a unique place where another most rare and amazing thing happened.

Aquatania contained untold tiny bits of Starstuff gathered from those exploding stars. Some had the ability to join and combine to form entirely new and unknown things. Over many, many, many years, these tiny new things came together to form strands and threads. As they linked and twined, a thin fabric was formed around them to protect those delicate strands and give them identity.

Through countless cycles of formation and destruction, some of these enclosed bits discovered ways to capture the energy in the Sun’s light, and use that to grow and – more miraculous yet - make more of themselves, even as they changed from one cycle to the next. Starstuff was transformed into Lifestuff.

Aquatania was happy to provide a warm and constant place for these bits of Lifestuff to thrive, and watched them grow and change.

Terra could not harbor these bits, its surface was too dry, with extremes of hot and cold, but it provided a continuous flow of Starstuff that the bits needed to grow and develop and make more of themselves. These life-sustaining essences were washed down from the surface of Terra and into the voluminous waters of Aquatania.

And all the while, Carbonica provided a blanket of warmth to urge this life force to reach its full potential and destiny.

Life was well on its way to creating a wonderous, possibly unique place in a cold and lifeless universe.

But! In the cold extremes at the top and bottom of this promising Rock, where the energy and warmth of the Sun were the weakest, lurked the evil Albedo.

With a heart of solid ice, Albedo delighted in casting the sunlight back out from the planet before it could warm either Aquitania or Terra. Carbonica could not trap this rejected sunlight and was powerless to protect the life within Aquatania from this loss of life-giving heat.

Albedo reveled in this potential power over the Rock and knew other evil facts as well.

Aquatania had two possibly fatal weaknesses.

Carbonica’s power could be diminished as the essence that provided that power was absorbed into Aquatania – and neither of them could stop this from happening!

And, if Aquatania became too cold, Albedo had the power to cover this watery paradise with a thin, solid, icy film that sent the Sun’s light right back into space.

And this was Albedo’s evil plan. If the Rock became just a little colder, Albedo could cast a net of ice over Aquatania, causing more and more of the Sun’s warmth to bounce back away from the Rock, making it colder still!

Albedo watched and waited until the conditions were right. When much of the essence that fed Carbonica’s power and strength had been lost to Aquatania, Carbonica’s ability to trap warmth and keep it on the Rock was weakened, and Albedo seized this chance.

Albedo spread that icy film out from the frozen poles to cover more and more of Aquatania. Unable to take in the Sun’s warmth, the Rock cooled, and Albedo’s icy net grew wider, bouncing ever more of the Sun’s warmth back into space. At the peak of Albedo’s power, Aquatania, and most of Terra as well, were frozen in Albedo’s net.

The Rock was locked in ice - cold and white. The blue ball had disappeared and life suffered.

Was this to be the end of the story? Would the miraculous experiment of growing and twining strands be lost? Would the tiny bits of Lifestuff disappear? Would Albedo thicken this deadly film and turn the Rock’s surface into a solid block of ice?

What could possibly reverse this deadly loop of cold leading to colder and colder still?

It looked like victory was at hand for Albedo and that the Rock would have a single ruler and be a lifeless, white orb.

But! Albedo did not know all there was to know about ruling the Rock. There were other forces at work. Ignorance was not bliss for Albedo.

First, that thin film stopped Aquatania from absorbing Carbonica’s essence. The ice layer created a barrier between them.

And then Terra revolted. Albedo did not know that Terra was blisteringly hot inside – hot enough to melt rocks and send the searing fluid up through the surface and into the air above. The blasts included dust and ash that further cooled the Rock for a short while, but also fed Carbonica’s essence so that more and more of the Rock’s warmth was trapped before escaping to space.

And suddenly, Albedo was in retreat! The surface over Aquatania began to melt and as the Sun’s heat reached into the watery depths, the icy film melted even more and the warmth grew. The deadly loop that had covered Aquatania with ice was now working in reverse! Warmth led to melting and to more warmth!

Albedo was under attack by the Sun and the three heroes, and was losing badly! The only escape was to draw back to the top and bottom of the Rock where the warmth of the Sun did not reach.

Albedo was diminished, but not eliminated. With the icy covering still in place at the poles, Albedo was still lurking and waiting.

And when Albedo again sensed a weakening of Carbonica’s strength, the icy film began to spread again, reaching out and sometimes succeeding in covering Aquatania completely.

But again Carbonica strengthened, fed by Terra’s violent eruptions, and Albedo retreated.

Back and forth the battle raged.

But who would win in the end? Albedo? Or the combined power of the Sun, Carbonica, Aquatania and Terra?

For many, many years, the struggle went back and forth and the outcome was uncertain. Several times, Albedo managed to completely change Aquitania’s skin to a solid, reflective, icy crust. And at those times the Rock’s future hung in the balance.

Would those tiny bits of Lifestuff be lost to a hostile frozen world? Would this Rock become as inhospitable to those tiny vibrant bits of life as its two closet neighbors – one so hot it could melt lead, and one cold and barren without either Aquatania or Carbonica to create a stable home for living things?

But each time, when the battle seemed lost, Terra boiled and Carbonica strengthened and Albedo retreated.

And in these warmer times, life flourished in Aquitania. It grew and became more complex, and by the power of the Sun and nurturing waters, life created a new hero - Aerobia – another invisible, power-giving force that grew in the air above the Rock’s surface. Aerobia allowed a different kind of life – one with the energy to grow more complex and overcome the barriers that kept it from living on Terra as well as in Aquitania.

The Rock would never be the same. Life, powered by Aerobia, adapted to conditions on Terra’s surface and soon covered that solid, multicolored hero with a mantle of green plants supporting beautiful animals in untold numbers and of untold kinds.

And those bits of Lifestuff, as they multiplied and became more diverse, created another new and powerful hero – Terra and Aquatania called this new hero Biologica, and Carbonica rejoiced in the new-found power of this hero. Working together, all the plants and animals, all part of Biologica, created a web of connections and mutual support that diminished the power of Albedo and many other potential dangers, bringing stability to the Rock and a more hopeful future to all who lived there.

But while all seemed well, Albedo was not entirely banished. At times the Rock tipped ever so slightly away from the Sun and received less energy and cooled. Then Albedo crept from the poles down over both Terra and Aquatania, with the ambition to reclaim all of the Rock as had happened before, and to threaten Biologica as well.

But Albedo’s progress was slow, and Biologica was active, and the Rock’s tilt was reversed before that icy film could invade too much of its surface. The balance favored light and warmth, and Albedo was seen to slink back to the cold polar refuge.

Across the eons since Aerobia and Biologica altered the Rock forever, change has continued to happen – indeed change is in the Rock’s very nature. Terra has shifted from place to place and parts of Aquatania have opened up and then closed again. Ice has expanded and diminished.

But through all of these changes, the Rock never again became inhospitable to Life. Together, the five heroes, Aquatania, Terra, Carbonica, Aerobia and Biologica had used the energy of the Sun to create a unique world of warmth and life.

Change is also in the nature of that verdant, vigorous, vibrant life force that has come to rule the Rock. New forms are constantly being created as old ones are lost. Life now teems in every corner of the Rock and under all conditions.

And because of the efforts of these heroes, one of those miraculous, complex bits of Lifestuff can be here on this cold, dark solstice night telling you this tale. For the Rock, of course, is the Earth – our home in the universe.

It was still a changeable world, with surprises and disruptions to come, but the heroes knew that, working together, they could overcome any challenge.

And they all lived happily ever after.

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The story of Albedo is just one of a number of disruption and chance happenings that could have put the Rock on a very different path! This story could have ended very differently, and you and I would not be here to tell it.

And the “happily ever after” may be a bit premature, as we know, but those are tales for other nights. For now let’s celebrate the success of our heroes in creating a life-giving and stable Rock, and take heart in knowing that a good change has happened on this solstice night.

The Earth’s seasons have turned and spring will come again.

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Sources, Disclaimers, and Thank Yous

First – thanks to Darrell Ford and Kam Damtoft for suggesting that Al Bedo would be a good name for a bad guy.

The theory of Snowball Earth that underlies this folktale has waxed and waned as many times as there have been ice ages. The current feeling is that yes, it did happen, and more than once – all more than 530 million years ago when the Cambrian Explosion brought life to land and diversity to the living world. One recent technical summary of current thinking on Snowball Earth can be found here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowball_Earth

The concept of Biologica derives directly from Lovelock’s theory of Gaia. If you want to know more, please read the original version, and avoid the pseudoscience that has erupted around it. That original version is:

Lovelock, J. 1979. Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth. Oxford University Press. This first edition has been reprinted many times.

The idea that we are all Starstuff I credit to Carl Sagan and his book Cosmos that changed the way I view science and the world.

And I just finished Deborah Harkness’ 1700-page All Souls trilogy which probably put me in mind of writing historical fantasies!

As for the disclaimer – simplifying an Earth history story into a folktale means overlooking many details and making many simplifying assumptions. Hopefully the broad outline of the story is accurate.

The image of the Sun and its neighbors is from:

https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Solar_System,_interactive/Earth/Solar_System_overview

and is covered by the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License

The Terra image is from:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mesquite_Sand_Dunes_in_Death_Valley.jpg

and is covered by the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

The Aquatania images are from:

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/151670/looking-down-on-the-andes

and here – using a Nasa generated image

https://liberalarts.org.uk/pale-blue-dot-carl-sagan-quote/

The image of an early cell is from:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Prokaryote_cell.svg