THE MAN IN THE MOON. How that Ancient Myth is Regarded in Various Countries.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 237, 14 January 1888, Page 3

THE MAN IN THE MOON. How that Ancient Myth is Regarded in Various Countries.

The 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 Mo3es, for many ancient stories tell of the man who was punished by death for gathering sticks on the Sabbath (Numbers, xv.,32 — 36) ; and though no allusion is made in the Bible record of this remarkable evout to the moon, yet it was generally supposed long before the days of Moses that the un-, fortunate Sabbath-breaker was sent to the moon and compelled to stay there for ever thereafter. A well-known German story tells about the mau who cut sticks on the Sabbath, and was caughb 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 cabbage on Christmas Eve ; th& 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 around once every Christmas Eve ; but astronomy does not support the idea. In Sylt, the man in the moon was a sheepstealer, and it was his custom to entice the cheep with a bundle of cabbages. He was placed in the moon as an everlasting warning to others. In Schamburg 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, ana the wdman because sh6 made butter on a Sunday. Northern mythology tells about a giant who inhabits the moon, and is supposed to cause the j ebb and &ow of the tides. When he stoops the water flows, and when he stands erect the wato" subsides again. In Hindo ;n-thology 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 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 a chariot drawn by ten horses and antelopes. The .hare is sacred to him, and the Hindoos fancy that they see the outline of a hare on the face of the moon. 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 continues until the whole of the moon is cut away, and only a little piece left. , The moon implores the svm to have pity on him, and leave thia 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 man 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 is only severed at death. Harley remarks, in his funny way, that this must be the man of the honeymoon. A Slavonic legend says that the moon, king of night and husband of the sun, falls in love with the morning star, wherefore be was cloven through in punishment, as we see him in the sky. 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 thorn's on his shoulders in punishmbnfc for bffering to God the cheapest giffcirom his field; - Dante fcefers to this in the f'fnfernoV" panfco icx, Jine 123, where\W speaks §f "Gain with fork of thorns^ancl again' in otth'e f Paradiso"'he,me*ntions* < * fcn'egloothy spots bpon his body "(tlie moon's).'" tfhfch Below on earfcH give rise talk of Wh."? \The v uewr have a story that) Jacob's fato is yisiblo in the moon. -According to* Ftench superstition it; is Judas. lacflnofc/whV was! transported thorefqrhis treaspii; (Jrimni. feW <vi -tJiafc; ><i VrelMflte; T sflpWMfton^ banded down by- Berthel/ C 145,C 145, r r that; the moon is Mary Mftgd»len©j ihd tU^spot^are her t*»r*o! r«f»ot*ttC6;.