Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1891-07-18
MOON MYTHS.
THE MAN IN THE MOON AND STORIES
ABOUT HIM.

Even Savages See Wonders in the
Wandering Orb-A Curious Collection
of Poetfcal Fancies From All Chimes.
In Hindoo mythology the moon
Chandra or Soma-is male deity, rep
resented in one myth as the son of the
patriarch Atri, and in another as arising
from the milk sea, where it was churned
by the gods so as to obtain the water OF
life. The moon is generally represented
as wearing white garments, holding a
mace in one hand and riding in chariot
drawn by 10 horses and antelopes. The
hare is sacred to him, and the Hindoos
fancy that they see the outlines of hare
on the face of the moon.
In Africa the man in the moon is sup
posed to have incurred the wrath of the
sun, and in punishment is carved by the
knife THAT is, the rays of the latter. This
continues until the whole of the moon is
cut away and only little piece is left.
The moon implores the sun to have pity
on him and leave this morsel for his chill
dren. The sun grants his request, and
the moon grows from this little piece
until at last it is full moon. Then the
sun begins carving again.
In China the old man of the moon is
known as Yue-lao, and holds the reins OF
marriages among mortals in his hands.
The future husband and wife are tied
together by an invisible silken cord,
which is only severed at death. Thi.
must be the man of the honeymoon.
A Slavonic legend says that the moon,
king of night and husband of the sun, fell
in love with the morning star, wherefo,
he was cloven in half in punishment, as
we see him in the sky to this day.
A Russian myth is told about man
who sought for the isle in which there
was no death. He took up his abode in
the moon, but after 100 years or so had
elapsed death came after him. A furious
struggle ensued, and the moon proving
victorious the man was taken up to the
sky and now shines las a star near the
MOON"
Some say that the man in the moon is
Isaac, bearing burden of wood for the
sacrifice of himself on Mount Moriah.
Others that he is Cain, carrying bundle
of thorns on his shoulders, in punish
ment for offering God the poorest gift
from his field. Dante refers to this in
the Inferno" canto 90, line 1893, where
he speaks of Gain with fork of thorns,
and again in canto 2, of the Paradise,
he mentions "the gloomy spots upon this
body, which below on earth give rise to
talk of Cain
The Jews have a story that Jacobs face
is visible in the moon. Another religious
superstition is handed down by Berthold,
that the moon is Mary Magdalen and the
spots are her tears of repentance, while
according to French superstition the
moon is Judas 1scariot, who was trans.
lated there for his treason.
In Greenland sun and moon were said
to be brother and sister. Malina was
leased by her brother, Anninga, and she
ran away from him. He followed her,
but she flew in the air and became the
sun, and her brother, who could not fly
30 high, became the moon. He is still
pursuing his sister, hoping some day to
surprise and capture her. when he is
tired and hungry in his last quarter he
leaves his house on sledge harnessed to
four dogs and hunts for several days.
On MS return ne edtS So IuuCIl tIldL lag
CROWS into full moon"
An Eskimo myth relates that when a
Girl was at party some one told his love
for her by shaking her shoulders, after
the manner of the country. She could
not see who it was in the dark hut; she
smeared her hand with SCOT, and when
he came back she blackened his cheek
with her hand. When light was
brought she saw that it was her brother
and fed. He ran after her and followed
her, but as she came to the end Of the
earth she sprang out into the sky. Then
she became the sun and he the moon,
and this is why the moon is always chas-,
ing the sun through the heavens, and
why the moon is sometimes dark as he
turns his blackened cheek toward the
earth"
The Australians believed the moon to
be mischevous being who went about
the world doing evil. One day he swal-
lowed the eagle god. The wives of the
eagle came up to see him, and the moon,
not recognizing them, asked them where
he could find a well. They showed him
one, and as he stopped over to drink they
hit him on the head IAN idea evidently
utilized by Miss Braddon in Lady Aud
ley's Secret W with tomahawk, and out
flew the eagle.
Another Australian legend says that
Mityau, the moon, was native cat, who
fell in love with some one else's wife, and
was driven away, to wander ever since.
But the moon was not always sup
posed to be inhabited by man. Thus
Chinese story represents the moon, Jutho,
as beautiful lady with a double sphere
behind her head and rabbit at her feet:
On gold throne whose radiating brightness
Dazzlss the eye, enhaloing the scene,
Bits a fair form, arrayed in snowy whiteness;
She is Ahango the beauteous fairy queen.
Rainbow-winged angels softly hover DER her,
Forming a canopy above the throne;
A host of fairy beings stand before her,
Each robed in light and girt with meteor
zone.
In Mangaia, the southernmost island
of the Hervey cluster, the woman in the
moon is Ina, the pattern wife, who
eternally weaves beautiful cloth, e.,
the white clouds.
Among the South Slavonians the moon
is represented in a Servian song as
beautiful maiden with farms Of silver up
TO the elbows, sitting on silver throne
which floats on water. A sutton comes
to WOO her and she avoids him, shedding
tears of anger and wailing with sorrow.
In Polynesia story is told how the