The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1877-11-03

crime, may go 10 the moon! Alter MS |
death, this fate duly befell him, and
there he remains to this day, condemned
to eat moulten lead as a punishment.
The Black Forest peasantrY say that the
dark spots visible in the moon are caused |
by man being spell-bound there. He |
stole bundle of wood ON Sunday, be-
cause he thought on that day he should |
be unmolested by the Foresters. But he |
had not gone far with it when he met
stranger, who was none other than the |
Almighty himself After reproving the |
thief for not keeping the Sabbath-day
holy, God said he must be punished; |
but he might choose whether he would |
be banished to the sun or the moon.
The man chose the latter, declaring he
would rather freeze in the moon than burn
in the sun, and thus the Besenmannle"
or Broom-man" came into the moon
with his fagot on his back. Some say
that the Almighty set light to the fagot
and it burns perpetually, in order that
the bearer may not be frozen tc death,
At Waltcnburgh in the Grisops, the tale
is somewhat different. A poor woman
besought Senner" to give her little
milk, which he roughly refused to do.
Thereupon she wished he might go to
the coolest place in existence, which is
the moon, and he is there visible with
his milk-pail.
The man in the moon frequently
figures in North German legends. Kuhn
relates a tradition in the Havel country.
One Christmas Eve peasant felt great
desire to eat cabbage, and, having none
himself, slipped into his neighbours gar
den to cut some. Just as he had filled
his basket the Christ Child rode past on
his white horse and SAID: Because
thou hast stolen on the holy-night, thou
shalt Immediately sit in the moon with
thy basket of cabbage" No sooner said
ing his penalty. At Paderborn, in West
phalia, the crime committed was not
theft but hindering people from attend
ing church on Easter Day by placing
thorn-b bush in the field gate though which
they had to pass.
In the neighborhood of Wittengen, the
man is said to be banished to the moon
because he tied up his brooms on Maundy
Thursday; and at Deilinghofen, of hay
Different versions are related in Linn
burg, where the man in the moon is be-
lieved to have stolen wood on Easter
morning; while at Hemer, in Westphalia,
people say he was engaged in fencing
his field on Good Friday, and had just
poised a bunch of thorns on his fork,
when he was at once transported to the
moon. Some of the Hemer peasants
declare that the moon is not only inhab-
tied by man with his thorn bush and
pitchfork, but likewise by a woman
churnipg. They are husband and wife,
and both broke the Sabbath, the man by
fencing his field and the woman by churn-
ing her butter during the hours of
divine service.
An ancient Northern fable states that
Mani tine NOON kidnapped two children
called Bill and Hinki from the earth,
while they were employed in drawing
water from the well Byrgir, bearing
on their shoulders the pail Sagr on the
yoke Stimuli. These children follow
Mani, and are plainly visible from the
earth.
This myth of the childstealing Moon
Man, which existed throughout the North
and also in Germany evidently received
Christian coloring in later times.
The idea of the theft was retained,
but the chiefstress is laid on the observ-
ance of the Christian festival. The
culprit does not suffer for stealing the
wood, but mainly for committing the sin
on the Lords day. This Interpretation
may have originated in the account, in
the Book of Numbers, of Moses COM
manding the lsraelite to be stoned who
had gathered wood on the Sabbath day.
Griffin says he cannot trace the exact
period when the Northern fable first APP
peared in Germany, but he has no doubt
of its great antiquity.
All nations seem to have had a curious
desire to account for the spots in the
moon.
According to the Hindoos, Chandras,
the God of the Moon, bears hare in his
arms. The Mongolians also believe that
the spots represent hare. One of their
deities transformed himself into a hare
to feed starving wayfarer; and in honor
OF this act of virtue the figure of hare
was thenceforth visible in the moon
nv ldliN % VI Wy udNC d oOluSWudb
similar legend When Buddha sojourned
as a hermit on earth, he one day lost his
way in forest, and after long wander
ings he met hare, who thus addressed
him: 81 can help thee. Do thou take
the right-hand path, and l will guide
thee out of this wilderness"
81 thank thee" returned Buddha,
" but l am poor and starving, and am
unable to requite thy kindness"
If thou art hungry" replied the
hare, light fire, kill and eat me-"
Buddha lighted a fire as desired, and the
hare Immediately leaped in; but Buddha
now displayed his supernatural powers,
and, tearing the hare from the flames, he
placed it in the moon, where it still
abides. This story is related by
French traveller in Ceylon, and he adds
that his telescope was often borrowed by
the natives in order that they might in
spect the hare in the moon.
Chaucer describes the moon as Lady
Cynthia:
Her Cite was gray and full of spottis blake,
And on her brest a chorle paintid full even,
Bearing bush of thornis on his bake,
Which for his theft might climb no ner the
heven.
Shakespeare also alluded to the man in