The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-04-17
THE Man IN THE MOON
Some Attempts to Account for
That Individual.
ONLY a CABBAGE srIA,ea.
vsrioas Fsneifrl Nosfens Of the Imagined
F~igsre-The story rsld by the
Greenlaaders-

Tide idea of the man in the mocns
seems to have arisen srop the fact that the
depression on the naooa's fsee-the GREAT
valleys that are shere-appear 10 our sight
Ike the fern OF = man. The figure seems.
according 10 the way in which our fancy
regards il. 10 be either carrying q bundle
or drawing . how like an archer and TO he
attended by . dos. This Is q very
old notion. and it is common 20
nearly every country. RarhArcus tribes
have something To say about il as
well as civilized races. IL used To
be said that the man in the moon was
the offender mentioned in Numbers. who
was brought before Moses for gathering
sticks on the Sabbath day, bus an ANCIENT
tradition on the subject speaks also Of the
figure IS Cain carrying . thorn bush with
q dog ~ his heels. the bush representing
the burden of sin and the dog the evil
spirit that took possession OF Cain. One
OF oar earliest poets ~tchaucer) speaks OF
the maj IS having stolen the bash. and
SHAKESPEARE IN n OF his plays, Mid
summer Nights Dream" saws, This man.
with lantern, dog and bush Of thorns, pre-
senteth Moonshine-"
IL is said in Holland that the figure is
thaf OF q man who was found steal
ing cabbage On . Christmas eve, and
who 50 ANNOYED his neighhors hv
pilfering in their gardens while Their were
enjoying themselves that they wished him
far enough, and as their far enough was
the MOON. thither, rs the story runs, the
caiprit was taken as quickly as might be ON
the back OF the north wind be-
fore he could say a word in his
defense. ft Is said in some pisces
that he was more than a cabbage steaIer,
hat the cabbages were meant as a tempt
ing bait with which to ensice sheep away.
and that q great many sheep were lost be-
fore the thief was discovered and sent
where he could find neither animal nor
vegetable life.
We all know that the attractive power of
the moon affects the watery masses on the
earth and causes the rise and fail Of the
tides, and this scientific fact comes out in
a peculiar way in one OF these moon tradi-
tons.
Thus in Norway and Sweden there il a
story that the man In the moon is a giant
who Is in the hnbit Of slowly bending down
N as slowly rising again. The ocean is
said to swell up to full tide when he stoops
and TO ebb when he stands erect. The
Russians say that there was once q man
who emf about looking for q land in
which there was no death. that in the
course of his wsnderings he came TO the
moon. whore he lived 100 years before
Death found him out. and that he and
Death had = great struggle. in which the
mar in the moon was conquered.
The Grecnlanders speak OF the sun and
as q brother and sister, who once
lived npon this earth. One day, we ara
told. the sister took a "Trip into the sky To
escape from her brother. who was teasing
her. She flew so far that she became
fixed in space. and remained there as the
sun. Her brother sought 10 follow her,
bat could only go part of the distance,
and took his place in the sky as
the moon. And we are told. also, Of the
moon brother, that when he gets into his
last quarter he is tired and hungry. and
that he then leaves his house on . sledgc.
harnessed TO four dogs. and hunts for sew
eral days. and that on his return ne feasts
so greediIy on what he has captured that
he o grows into his full size and
strength.
SO far rs the moor Is concerned, there Ia
a grain of science in this story also. for
some of our astronomers believe that the
moon was at one time, untold ages ago,
thrown of from this EARTH and that since
then 1t has gradually been going further
from us and nearer to the sun.