Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1873-05-28
NOTIONS ABOUT THE MOON.
WATERFOWL,

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earth's beautiful satellite. They have wor-
SHIPPED it as goddess, sung of it as the
birthplace of dreams, honored it as the
abiding-place Of benefcent spirits en-
powered to visit earth to aid good men
and punish evil-doers Some have held
the moon to DE the first home of humani-
ty, the Paradise lost by Ewes trangression;
others have believed it to be the place to
which the souls of men ascend after death.
Byron wrote
Sweet DAMS crest
Floats through the air. an island OF the best;
and a modern poetess has aVoWed her
faith that the wretched find rest in Luna's
serene regions. Many wise men OF old
believed the moon to be world full OF
life, Pythagoras boldly asserting it had its
seas and rivers, its mountains, plains, and
woods, its plants far lovelier than the
flowers of earth, it's animals fifteen times
the size of those familiar to mundane
eyes, ruled over by men of larger growth
and higher mental faculties than those OF
earthly mould.
Leaving philosophers to speculate as
to whether the moon was or was not the
home of creatures more or less akin to
humankind, unphilosophical folk agreed
that the moon had one inhabitant at least,
one Of their own race, whose form was
palpable to all who had eyes to see. How
he attained his elevated position was in
this wise While the children OF
Israel soiourned in the wilderness, a
man was detected gathering sticks upon
the Sabbath-day, whereupon he was taken
without the camp and stoned until he
died. Not satisfied with this exemplary
punishment of the offender by his fellow
wanderers, the Vox Populi condemned
the unhappy Sabbath-break to per
petual purgatory in the moon, wherein
he may be seen, bearing his bundle
of sticks upon his back, ever climbing and
climbing without gaining step; accom-
panied by dog, faithful in worse than
death, to master, whom an old English
song-writer pictures shuddering in con-
slant fear Of fall, and shivering with cold
as the frosty air bites his back through his
thorn-rent clothes. Shakspeare's Stephano
found Caliban ready enough to believe he
was the man in the moon, dropped from
the skies to become king of the enchanted
island: II have seen thee in her, and [ do
adore thee; my mistress showed me thee,
and thy dog, and thy bush" In Ger
many, the story runs that, many ages ago,
an old man went into the woods to cut
sticks upon Sunday morning. Having
collected as many as he could carry, he
slung the bundle upon a stick, shOuldered
it, and trudged homeWards. He had not
got far upon his way ere he was stopped
BY handsome gentleman dressed in his
Sunday best, who inquired if he was
aware it was Sunday or earth, when every
one was bound to rest from labor. "Sun-
day on earth or Monday in heaven, it is
all the same to mer' was the irreverent re-
ply. 80 be it," said his questioner;
F'bear, then, your fagot forever; and since
you do not value Sunday on earth, you
shall have an everlasting MONDAY in
MISUNDERSTANDING for eternity in the moon
as a warning to Sabbath breakersi As
he pronounced sentence, the stranger van
ished, and before the wood gatherer could
APOLOGIZE for his rudeness, he was seized
by invisible hands, and borne to the moon,
pole, fagot, and all. According to another
version, he had the option of burning in
the sun or freezing in the moon, and chose
the latter as the least Of two evils.
Travelling northwards, we find the bun
die of sticks transformed into load OF
green stuff A North-Frisian, so devoid
of honest ingenuity that he could think of
no better way of passing his Christmas
eve than in stripping neighbours garden
of its cabbages, was deservedly caught by
some of the villagers as he was sneaking
away with his plumber Indignant at
the theft, they wished the thief in the
moon, and to the moon he went instanter;
there he vet stands with the stolen cab
bages on his back, turning himself round
once on the anniversary of his crime and
it's detection. New Zealanders, too, claim
the man in the moon as one of themselves,
their story being that one Roma, going
out at night to fetch water from a WELL
stumbled, fell, and sprained his ankle so
badly, that as he lay unable to move,
he cried out with pain. Then, to his dis
may and terror, he beheld the moon de-
scending towards him, evidently bent
upon capturing him. He seized hold of
tree, and chung to it tightly, but it gave
way, and fell with him upon the moon,
which carried both away. In SWabia,
not content with man, they must needs
put a man and woman in the moon: the
former for strewing thorns and brambles
on the road to church, to hinder more
Cody folks than himself from attending
Sunday mass the latter for making butter
upon the Sabbath day.
The Cingalese transform the man into a
hare, and make the animals presence in
the orb of night reward instead of pun
ishment Sakyamunni, in one Of the ear
1ier stages Of his existence was hare, liv-
ing in sort of partnership with an ape
and a fox One day, Indra paid the three
friends visit in the guise of an old man
wanting a meal. The larder being bare,
the fox, the ape, and the hare started at
once on foraging expedition; while his
cronies managed to secure something eat
able, the hare returned as he went, but
rather than be reproached with inhospi-
tality, as soon as a cooking fire was kin
died, he jumped into it, thus providing
the visitor with dainty dish very literally
at his own expense. Charmed with the
action, Indra took the hare out OF the fire,
carried him back with him to heaven, and
set him in the moon. In Scandinavia,
oddly enough, tradition took the New Zea-
lander's view of Luna's character, and
made kidnapper of her. According to
the Morse legend, Mani, the moon, seeing
two children named Hulk and Bill draw
ing water from well into bucket, which
they suspended on a pole for easy car
riage, seized upon them, and took chill
dren, bucket and pole into the upper re-
gions.
After testing the question again and
again, modern meteorologists have come