Long, long ago, before humans came to Neopia, there was no sun shining over
the land. The only lights in the sky were the moon and the stars, and everywhere
was darkness and cold. When the moon set, the NeoPets would huddle together
around their campfires and wish for the light to return.
Far in the north, in a cave of purest ice, there lived a beast known as the
Snowager. In that cave he kept his enormous hoard of treasure, which he guarded
jealously. It was said that his most precious treasure was something called
the sun. According to rumour, this sun was brighter and more glorious than the
moon itself. Yet no NeoPet knew if this rumour was true or not, for none who
journeyed to the Snowager's cave ever returned.
Among the NeoPets at the time was the Zafara. Now the Zafara was not the strongest
or the toughest of the NeoPets, but he was the swiftest. Every day he would
race up and down Neopia, and it was well known that none could best him. It
so happened that one day as he was racing, the Zafara found that he was drawing
close to the cave of the Snowager. He had always been curious about this sun,
and he wanted to know whether it truly existed or not. So without hesitation
he entered the cave.
The Snowager awoke at once, raising his icy head high and sending a blast of
pure ice toward the Zafara. It was this blast that had doomed so many NeoPets
before him. Yet the Zafara nimbly dodged it, and not a sliver of ice touched
his fur.
Enraged, the Snowager let out a roar so loud the NeoPets of Tyrannia heard
it and shivered in fear. "Who dost disturb my slumber?"
"It is I," said the Zafara, "and I have been racing up and down Neopia without
finding anybody who can match me in speed. You are powerful, O Snowager, yet
even you could not outrun me."
"Let us see," the Snowager bellowed. "We shall have a race." For the Snowager
was thinking, "First I shall prove myself his superior; then I shall devour
him whole."
They walked outside the cave and at the count of three the race began. The
Snowager at once charged down the slope of the mountain, his sinuous body easily
sliding over the frost and ice covering the ground. But the Zafara did not run.
Instead, as soon as the Snowager was gone, the Zafara turned around and returned
to the Snowager's cave.
Covering the floor was wealth unimaginable. Yet the Zafara had eyes for none
of it, for in the very back of the cave, so bright that the Zafara could hardly
look at it, was the sun. The Snowager slept coiled around it, so no NeoPet had
ever seen it before; but now that the Snowager was gone, it shone forth with
all of its might. Even as he was awestruck by its radiance, the Zafara felt
sorry for it, held captive in this cave, and he decided to set it free.
Carefully picking it up in his paws, the Zafara strode outside and released
it. Immediately, for it wanted to get as far away from the Snowager as possible,
the sun rose into the sky. Dawn came over Neopia for the first time.
As soon as the Snowager saw the sun rising above him, he realised what had
happened and turned around, intending to go back and demolish the Zafara. But
the Zafara had already sped away, eluding the Snowager's pursuit until he came
to warm Mystery Island where the Snowager dared not follow. Instead, the Snowager
was forced to return to his cave, furious over the loss of the treasure which
had delighted him the most.
Yet even to this day, when he sleeps, the Snowager dreams that the sun has
returned to him. That is why he so viciously attacks any NeoPet who wakes him
up: they are taking him from his dreams of his former glory.
The End | 
