October 1, 1887.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE 



Wo 



THE MAN IN THE MOON. 



By Stella Occidexs. 



" All tbat I have to sa}' is to tell you that the lantern is the moon ; 

 I, the man in the moon ; this thorn-bush, my thorn-bush ; and this 

 clog, my dog." — Moonshine in "Midsummer Night's Dream." 



I [ E myth about the " Man in the Moon " is 

 of great antiquity : how old we know not. 

 Probably it dates back far beyond the time 

 of Moses, for many ancient stories tell of 

 the man who was punished by death for 

 gatheiing sticks on the Sabbath (IST timbers 

 XV. 32-36) ; and though no allusion is made 

 in the Bible record of this remarkable event to the moon, 

 yet it was generally supposed long before the days of Moses 

 that the unfortunate Sabbath-breaker was sent to the moon, 

 and compelled to stay there for ever thereafter. The story 

 as it stands in the book of Numbers is, of course, simply 

 blasphemous, as it attributes the man's death to the actual 

 command of the Almighty. A well-known German story 

 tells about the man who cut sticks on the Sabbath, and was 

 caught up in the moon, fagots and all, and there stands to 

 this day. Another tale told in Swabia relates about a 

 manikin who stole wood, and is still to be seen in the moon. 

 A Dutch household myth accused the man in the moon of 

 stealing cabbages on Christmas Eve : the neighbours caught 

 him just as he was walking off with a good supply, and they 

 " wished " him up in the moon. He stands there to this 

 day, bearing his load of cabbages. It is said that he turns 

 round once every Christmas Eve ; but astronomy does not 

 support the idea. In Sylt, the man in the moon was a 

 sheep-stealer, and it was his custom to entice the sheep with 

 a bundle of cabbages. He was placed in the moon, as an 

 everlasting warning to others.* 



In Schaumburg-Lippe, it is said that a man and woman 

 were sent to the moon ; the man because he prevented people 

 from going to church on Sunday by strewing brambles and 

 thorn-bushes in their way, and the woman because she 

 made butter on a Sunday.f 



Northern mythology tells about a giant who inhabits the 

 moon, and is supposed to cause the ebb and flow of the tide. 

 When he stoops, the water flows ; and when he stands erect, 

 the water subsides again.J This somewhat resembles the 

 Scandinavian myth about Bil and Hjuki, who were taken 

 up to heaven by Mani. They were on their way to the 

 well of Byrgir, bearing on their shoulders the bucket Soeg 

 and the pole Simul. They were placed in the moon, and 

 are supposed to regulate her waxing and waning § Evi- 

 dently " Jack and Jill " of our nursery rhymes reproduce 

 this legend. Grimm says that the water-pole of the heathen 

 story has been transformed into the axis-shaft, and the pole 

 into the thorn-bush. 



In Hindu mythology- the Moon — Chandra or Some — is a 

 male deity, represented in one myth as the son of the 

 patriarch Atri, and in another as arising from the milk-sea, 

 when it was churned by the gods [j so as to obtain the water 

 of life. The moon is generally represented as wearing white 

 garments, holding a mace in one hand, and riding in a 

 chariot drawn by ten horses and antelopes. The hare is 

 sacred to him, and the Hindus fancy that they see the out- 

 line of a hare on the face of the moon.^ 



* Harleyj " Moon-lore," p. 23. 



t Baring-Gould, " Curious Myths of the Middle Ages," p. 192. 

 j Thorpe, "Northern Mythology," vol. iii. p. 57. 

 § Baring-Gould, " Curious Myths of the Middle Ages," p. 200. 

 II Hence perhaps the theory that the moon is made of green 

 cheese. — Ed. 



^ yotes and Queries, vol. vi. p. 232. 



In Africa the man in the moon is supposed to have 

 incurred the wrath of the sun, and is in punishment carved 

 by the knife (that is by the rays) of the latter. This con- 

 tinues until the whole of the moon is cut away, and only a 

 little piece left. The moon implores the sun to have pity 

 on him, and leave this morsel for his children. The sun 

 grants his request, and the moon grows from this little 

 piece until at last it is a full moon. Then the sun begins 

 carving again.* 



In China the old mau of the moon is known as Yue-lao, 

 and holds the reins of marriages of mortals in his hands. 

 The future husband and wife are tied together by an 

 invisible silken cord, which Ls only severed at death. Harley 

 remarks, in his funny way, that this must be the man of 

 the honeymoon.t 



A Slavonic legend says that the moon, king of night 

 and husband of the sun, falls in love with the morning star, 

 wherefore he was cloven through in punishment, as we see 

 him in the sky. A Russian story is told about a man who 

 sought for the isle in which there was no death. He took 

 up his abode in the moon, but after a hundred years or so 

 had elapsed Death came after him. A furious struggle 

 ensued with the Moon, and the latter proving victorious, 

 the man was caught up in the sky, and now ,'ihines " as a 

 star near the moon." \ It was not an unusual belief that 

 the moon was inhabited : some thought her the place where 

 human spirits either came or went. Others fancied it was 

 a prison cage, in w^hich, behind bars of light, miserable 

 sinners were to be exposed to all eternity as a warning to 

 others. § 



Some say the man in the moon is Isaac, bearing a burden 

 of wood for the sacrifice of himself on Mount Moriah. Others 

 that he is Cain, carrying a bundle of thorns on his shoulders 

 in punishment for offering to God the cheapest gift from his 

 field. II Dante refers to this in the "Inferno," canto xx., 

 line 123, where he speaks of " Cain with fork of thorns," 

 and again in canto ii. of the " Paradise " he mentions " the 

 gloomy spots upon this body " (the moon's) " which below 

 on earth give rise to talk of Cain." The Jews have a story 

 that Jacob's face is visible in the moon. According to a 

 French superstition, it is Judas Iscariot, who was trans- 

 ported there for his treason. Grimm tells us that a reli- 

 gious superstition is handed down by Berthold, 1-1.5, that 

 the moon is Mary Magdalene, and the spots are her tears of 

 repentance. 



In Greenland the sun and moon were said to be brother 

 and sister. Malina was teased by her brother Anninga, 

 and she ran away from him. He followed her, but she flew 

 up in the air and became the sun, and her brother, who 

 could not fly so high, became the moon. He is still 

 pursuing his sister, hojjing some day to surprise and capture 

 her. " When he is tired and hungry in his last quarter, he 

 leaves his house, on a sledge harnessed to four dogs, and 

 hunts for several days. On his return he eats so much, 

 that he grows into a full moon." 



The Australians believe the moon to be a mischievou.'i 

 being, who went about the world doing evil. One day he 

 swallowed the eagle god. The wives of the eagle came up, 

 and the moon asked them where he could find a well. 

 They showed him one, and as he stooped over to drink, 

 they hit him on the head (an idea manifestly plagiarised by 

 Miss Braddon in " Lady Audley's Secret ") with a tomahawk, 

 and out flew the eagle.1 



* Harley, " Moon-lore," p. 33. 



t Ibid. p. 33. . 



t Ralston, " Russian Folk-lore," p. 183. 



§ Harley, " Moon-lore," p. 18. 



II Grimm, " Teutonic Mythology," vol. ii. p. 719. 



^ Andrew Lang, " Custom and Myth," p. 54. 



