LUNAR MYTHS. 



513 



" past " of the moon, and to ascertain that the same forces of nature which 



have moulded the planet we inhabit, have _ ^ 



been at work in the moon also. When we n\ \ \ 



study " Selenography," therefore, we shall 



find a record of a history which may some 



day bear a parallel to the history of our 



physical world. 



The moon, as all are aware, moves round 



the earth attendant upon us, but entirely Fig s6 J3i' ne r i n g.piain Copernicus, as seen 

 under the control of the sun; our satellite, ' with small magnifying power, 



moreover, has been the subject of many superstitions. A great many rites 

 and even domestic actions such as the killing of fowls were regulated by 

 the moon; and in Scotland, Scandinavia, and other portions of Europe, 

 she has always been regarded as effecting destiny. There are many 

 interesting myths connected with the moon, and indeed with astronomy 

 generally, and from a volume entitled " Notes on Unnatural History," some 

 very amusing extracts might be made. It will not be out of place to 

 mention a few of these myths. 



* * 564 The walled-plain Plato. 



The Chinese have an idea that a rabbit exists in the moon, and is the 

 cause of the shadows we see. The Buddhists think a holy hare is up there. 

 In the Pacific Islands there is a belief of a woman in the moon ; she was 

 sent there because she wished her child to have a bit of it to eat ; and Mr. 

 Buchanan has versified the old Scandinavian myth about the two children 

 kidnapped by the moon as they returned from a well with a bucket of water 

 slung upon a pole. The Jews placed Jacob in the moon, and the Italians 

 say that Cain inhabits the luminary with a dog and a thorn bush. In the 

 Inferno of Dante this is referred to, and we know that in A Midsummer 

 Night's Dream we have the moon coming out to shine upon the loves of 



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