The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-02-24
THE MAN IN THE MOON.
Legendary Lore Concerning This Inter-
estinx Person and His CWmpa nions.O
[Allthe Yenr Aronnd.l

A,egGnNaFy Lore concerning THIS Abtss~
esting Person ana His comparisons
@ [All the Year Aroundl
Among the superstitions yet lingeSng In
the minds of mankind, none. perhaps, e more
universal than that of the man IN the moon.
ia England be 9chiefly imnortalized by the
old nursery rhyme but no further details are
given of his proceedings. German legends
are. however, more communicative, and stun
dry traditions relate his history, varying in
different parts of the country.
Swabian mother at Derendingen tells her
child that man was once working II ms
vineyard on Sunday. and after having pruned
all his vines he made bundle OF the, sllHots
he had just cut off laid 1t In his basketshnd
went home According to one version the
vines were stolen from a. neighbours vineyard
When taxed either with Sabbath breaking or
with the theft, the eulprit stoutly protested
his innocence and finally exclaimed, IF /
have committed such crime, may go to the
moonl' After his death this fate duly befell
him. and there he remains to thsO day, con-
denied TO eat molten lead as punishment.
The Black Forest peasantry say that the dark
spots visible In the moon are caused Nv a man
being sre-hound there He stole bundle
of wood on Sunday, because he Thought on
that day he should be unmoested by the for
esters. Bat he had not gone far with it when
he met a stranger, who was none other
than the Almighty himself. After reprovlng
the thief Tor 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
"Besenn1annle' or " Broom man " came into
the moon with his faggot on his back. Some
say that the Almighty set light to the faggot
and II burns perpetlally, in order that the
bearer may not he frozen to death. At Walt
enhurg In the Gtisons, the tale is somewhat
different. poor woman besuught a " Sen
ner" to give her a little milk, which he
roughly refused TODD. 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 III the moon frequently figures In
North German legends. Kuhn relates ira
diton In the Havel country. One Christmas
eve peasant felt great desire to eat , cab
into his neighbors garden to cut some. Just
az he had filled his basket, the Christ Child
rode past on his white horse and said: "Be-
cause thou hast stolen on the holy night, thou
shalt Immediately sit In the moon with thy
basket of cabbage" No sooner said than
done, and the criminal is still undergoing his
penalty. At Paderborn In Westphalia, the
crime committed was not theft, but hinderIng
by placing a thorn bush In the field gate
through which they had to pass.
In the neghborhood of WittengeD, the man
is said to be banished to the moon because he
at Deinghofen, of having mown his meaS
dows on Sunday.
Different versions are related in Limhurg,
where the man in the moon is believed to
have stolen wool on Easter morning: while at
Hemer, in Westphalia, people say hc was en-
gagged In fencing his field on Good Friuay, and
had just poised 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 Ii i only inhabited by man with his
thorn-buah and pitchfork but likewise by a
woman churnng. They are husband and
wife, and both broke the Sabbath, the man by
her butter during the hours of divine service
An ancient Northern fable states that Mani
tthe Moon kidnapped two children named Bill
and Hiuki from the earth, while they We're
Byrgir. bearing on their shoulders the pail
S,pgr on the yoke Stimuli These children fol
low Mani and are plainly visible from the
earth.
which existed throughout the North and also
eooring in later times. The idea Of the theft
was retained, but the chief stress is laid on the
prit 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. q
Moses commanding the lsraeite to be stoned
who had gathered wood on the Sabbath day
Griffin says he cannot trace the exact perioC
when the Northern fable first appeared il
Germany, but he has no doubt of its great an
tiquity
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 a hare in his arms
The Mongoians also believe that the spots
represent hare One OF their deites trans
formed himself into a hare to feed starving
wayfarer and in honor of this act of virtue
the figure of hare was thenceforth visible il
the moon. The natives of Ceylon have Z
somewhat similar legend When Buddha so
ipuInaI aG n hermit earth. he Tny lost
his way in n forest, and after long wanderings
he met hare. who thus addressed him: Il
can help thee. Do thou take the right HAND
path. and will guide thee out of this wilder
ness
Il thank thee" returned Buddha "but | an
thy lladncSS.
IF thou art hungry" replied the hare
Eight fire. kill and eat me-
Buddha lighted a fire as desired and thu
hare Immediately leaped in; but Buddha nov
displayed his supernatural powers, and tear
ing the hare from the flames he placed it il
the moon, where it still abides. This story i
related by a French traveller in CeyIon. and h
adds that his telescope was often borrowed b,
the natives. in order that they might inspec
the hare in the moon.
Chaucer describes the moon as Lady Gym
thia:
Her Cite was gray and full of spottis blake.
And on her brest chorle paintid full even
Bearing a bush Of thornis on his bake
Which for his theft might climb no ner tn
heyen.
Shakespeare also alludes to the man in tn
moon in "The Tempest and "The Midsum
mer Nights Dream"
According to one tradition the figure
that Of Isaac, bearing the faggot on his shoul
ders for his own sacrifice on Mount MORTAL
Another calls the man, Cain with bundle {
briars' Dante mentions this both in hi
paradise" and Inferno" There is prett