The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1880-10-02
QUEER NOTIONS ABOUT THE MOON.


An interesting relic of primeval
superstition of the Aryan race survives
in the fanciful conception that the lunar
spots are not meaningless specks, but
representations of human beings. Every
one, SAYS MIR. Barring Gould, knows that
the moon is inhabited by man with a
bundle of sticks on his back, who has
been exiled thither for many centuries,
and who is so lar off that he is beyond
the reach of death. Dante calls him
Cain; Chaucer speaks of him as under
going punishment up there for theft,
and gives him thorn bush to carry;
whereas Shakespeare, whilst assigning
to him the thorn load, by way of COM
pcnsation allows him dogfor his COM
panion. From general account, how
ever, his offense seems not to have been
stealing, but Sabbath breaking-anidea
derived from the Old Testament. Like
the man mentioned in the Book of
Numbers, he was caught gathering
sticks on a Sunday, and for this act OF
disobedience, and as an example to
mankind, was condemned to reside for
ever in the moon, with his bundle on
his back. A further legend identifies
him with the figure of Isaac in the act
of carrying a bundle of sticks for his
sacrifice; while the Jews have Tai
mudical story that Jacob is in the moon,
and they believe that his face is occa-
sionally visible. This belief in the
moon-man is found in most countries
and under a variety of forms. Thus
the Swedish peasantry explain the
lunar spots as representing boy and
girl bearing pail of water between
them, whom the moon once kidnapped
and carried up to heayen-a legend ex-
listing also in Icelandic mythology. Ac-
cording to one German tale, man and
a woman stand in the moon-the man,
because he strewed brambles and thorns
on the church path, so as to hinder peo-
pie from attending mass on Sunday
morning; the woman because she made
butter on that day. The woman
carries her butter tub and the man
his bundle of thorns. The Dutch myth
is that the unhappy man was caught
stealing vegetables. The natives of
Ceylon, instead of a man, have placed
a hare in the moon, and it is reported
to have got there in the following man.
ner: Their great deity Buddha, when
hermit ON earth, lost himself one day
in q forest. After wandering about in
great distress he met hare, who thus
addressed him: at is in my power to
extricate you from your difficulty; take
the path on your left hand and it will
lead you out of the forest" 81 am
greatly obliged to you," said Buddha,
"but unfortunately l am very poor and
very hungry and have nothing to offer
you in reward for your Kindness" elf
you are hungry" returned the hare,
Il am again at your service. Make a
fire, kill me, roast me and eat me-"
Buddha made the fire and the hare at
once jumped into it, where he has re-
manned ever since. The Chinese repre-.
sent the moon by rabbit pounding rice
in a mortar. Their NEUROLOGICAL moon
Jut-ho is figured by beautiful young
woman with a double sphere behind
her head and a rabbit at her feet. If
the nursery rhyme is to be credited the
man in the moon once visited this earth
and took fancy to some peas-porridge
which he was in such hurry to devour
that he scalded his mouth: al',s -n
"The man I'm the moon
Came tumbling down
And asked his way to Norwich"
but whether he ever reached his desti-
nation we are not told. An Australian
legend says that originally the moon
was q native Cat who fell in love with
some one else's wife and was driven
away to wander ever since. Among the
Esquimaux the sun is maiden and the
moon is her brother; and the Khasias
of the Himalaya say that the moon falls
every month in love with his mother-in-
law, who throws ashes in his face,
whence his spots. The tribes of the
Malayan Peninsula believe that the
moon is q woman and the stars are her
children; whereas in South America
there is legend that the moon is
man and the sun is his wife.
= One of the superstitions associated
sRithsthelmoon IS its supposed influence
ia healing certain diseases. In the south
Of England the May new moon is said
10 have a share in curing scrofulous
An interesting case is re-
ated of man residingnear Chichester
who twice travelled into Dorsetshire
with different members Of his family TO
place them under q " cunning man. re-