The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-07-17
THE MAN IN THE MOON.

sented by the spots on the moon. Inc HIM
docs recognized the form of fazelle or
deer and call the moon Mrigadhara, or the
gazelle chariot. According to the Ceylonese
the hare was transferred by Buddha to the
moon because he recognized the hungry,
pilgrim-clad God and voluntarily laid him
self on the fire for his refreshment. The
Mongols have a similar legend except
that for Buddha they substitute Boldo
Dschagdsohamuni the supreme ruler of
heaven. The Aztecs have legend that in
the beginning sun and moon were equally
them threw rabbit in the moons face,
writes w. Drexler in the Deutsche Revue.
Backholz speaks of q superstition that man
ought not to initiate the hare in the moon
bv shadows cast on the wall, lest it pollute
the fingers. II is North German joke that
tied his pocket knife on string and threw
it into the moon, where it draws up and
down and makes holes and spots. Accord
ing to an ODER Palatinate legend, there is
an old giant who, when he is tired of going
afoot, swings himself on one of the noun
there. In South Africa the hare was the
ambassador of the gods to men, but instead
Of bringing them life he brought death, for
which the moon god having split his nose,
he retaliated by scratching the moon in
the face. There is Hindoo legend that
lndra once, with the help of Candra
the moon-god, seduced Ahalya, the wife of
man left his hut at cock-crow for prayers
and morning additions in the Ganges. and
crew before midnight. While the husband
was gone Indra assumed his appearance
and went to the wife, but the husband hav-
ing been informed by the river goddess OF
whipped both gods severely, and inflicted
on them the curse that the marks of the
blows should remain ineradicable. Accord
ing to the Khastas "a Himalayan tribe) the
moon makes love every month to his moth
er-in-law, who viii not listen to him. but
say that the sun, Maline, being pursued by
his brother, the moon, Anninga, blackened
his face with SCOT. According to the ma
tives of Panama and Guiana, the man in
the moon was banished there for commit
ting incest with his sister.
Sometimes the legend is connected with
Biblical personages. A Wendisoh popu-
lar song has it that King David sits in
the moon playing his harp to another mans
wife.
According to Pr@torius, the man in the
moon is the patriarch Isaac, carrying bun
and according to Dante, it is Cain carrying
q bundle of thorns as the meanest Offering
to God which his fields afforded. In
Iceland the people recognize the face
of Adam in the moon and that of Eve in
tho sun. The Freiburgers recognize Judas
Isoariot sneezing in his hand before he hung
himself.
Many legends attribute the dark spots in
the moon to giants and their labors. One
has it that at the creation God threw an
offending angel into the moon; another
legend is that the moon witnessed the crea-
tion OF our first parents. and photographed
their forms upon his countenanoe, but in
attempting to create men himself, he pro-
duced only serpent. Among the Polyne-
slams the man in the moon is an absent
chief. Others. as the Esquimaux. make the
moon the dwelling place of the dead; and,
according to Polynesian saying, the moon
serves as food for the spirits Of the depart
ed. Many recognize woman spinning,
weaving or plating, or doing some other
task which will last until the end of the
world. A similar legend is found among the
Potowotami. woman Is sewing shirt in
which she puts one stitch every seven years.
which will finish the shirt by the end of the
world. In many countries the legends have
it, that the man in the moon was banished
there for theft, in others for viola
tion of Sundays and holidays, and especial
y for theft on Christmas eve; and in the
legends of many lands we learn what the
man IN the moon, or woman as 1t may be,
has to do and submit to, OF which let one
example suffice. A farmer named Moon
having been banished to the moon for
working on Sunday, promised his wife, be-
fore his death, he would return to fetch
her; he reused her at night, and babe her
wrap herself up very warm, as it was very
cold in his new home, and she dressed her
self in fur robe and wooden shoes. The
man appears before midnight and the wife
after, and since her fur will not let in the
cold, all the frost falls on earth during her
watch.