Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1892-06-03

said the stranger, land as you value
not Sunday on earth, yours shall be
perpetual Monday in Heaven; and you |
shall stand for eternity in the moon, a
warning to all Sabbath breakers"
Whereupon the stranger vanished, |
and the man was caught up with his
staff and his fagot into the moon,
where he stands yet.
Many of the poets refer to this per-
sonage. Dante calls him Cain. Chaucer
speaks of him as undergoing punish
ment up there for theft.
Barring bush of thorns on his backe,
Whiche for his theft might cline the
heaven.
An ancient song of the time of Ed
ward IL, the poor king who, you re-
member, was barbarously murdered by
his nobles, is addressed to the man in
the moon. This is the first stanza in
more modern spelling:
Man in the moon, stand and slit,
On his fat fark, his burden he beneath,
1t is much wonder that he do ma down slit,
For doubt lest he fall, he shuddereth snd shiV.
ereth.
Shakespeare speaks of this forlorn
individual in one of his most beautiful
plays, and introduces a dog as his COM
panion. According to the nursery
rhyme, the man in the moon once Wis
tied this earth, and took fancy to
some pease porridge, which he was in
suoh hurry to devour he scalded his
mounth:
The man in the moon
Came tumbling down
And asked the way to Norwich,
but whether he ever reached this des-
tination we are not told.
The peasants of Swabia and Bohemia
see two folks stand in the moon, a man
and a woman. The man carries a
bundle of thorns en- his back, and the
woman has a butter tub. They be-
l1eve that the man was put there be-
cause he strewed thorns and brambles
on the church path, so as to prevent
the people from attending mass on Sun
day morning; the woman because she
| made butter on that day.
Instead of man and a woman, the
Swedish peasantry have placed boy
ard a girl in the moon. They say that
the luminary kidnapped them as they
were carrying water for their mother,
and accordingly the children are sup
| posed to be carrying pail of water be-
tween them. The same legend also ex-
lists in Icelandic mythology.
The natives of Ceylon explain the
lunar spot as representing hare. The
manner in which it got there is thus
explained Buddha, the great deity,
| while hermit on the earth, got lost in
the forest one day. In great anxiety
| he wandered about until he met
hare, who addressed him in the follow
ing manner: sit is in my power to ex.
tricate you from your difficulty. Take
your left hand path, and it will lead
| you out of the forest"
81 am greatly obliged to tou," said
Buddha, "but unfortunately am very
poor and very hungry, and have moth
ing to offer you as q reward for your
Kindness
IF you are hungry, returned the
hare, 81 am again at your service.
Make fire, kill me, roast me and eat
me"
Buddha built fire, and the hare
Jumped into it, but instead of eating it,
he prayed that the generous animal
might be placed in the moon, and
there it has remained ever since.
The North American Indians have
many pretty traditions regarding the
people who live in the moon. Among
the MandanS the moon was regarded
as the residence of 1.-The old woman
that never dies" the goddess of maize
and of fruits she who wears a
white band from the front to the
back of her head" She is said to have
civ ~
daughters. The eldest son is the day,
the second is the sun, and the third Is
the night The eldest daughter is the
morning star, and they call her ''the
woman who wears a plume;" the sec.
ond is the high star which revolves
around the pole; the third daughter is
''the woman of the west" the evening
star.
Most beautiful of all is the fancy OF
the Ojibways, who think they see in the
moon the graceful form of the beauti
full Ne-she-lxay- or the Lone
Bird. She was the daughter of chief.
and all the young braves wanted tC
marry her. but she had no love only
for her father, and would not listen to
their addresses At last her father
died, and Ne-she-k kay -be-nais felt
all alone in the world. Then she
looked up to the full moon, and cried;
Would that | had such as thee to love,
o Beautiful Orb! then would the Lone
Bird sorrow no longer in her loneli.
ness"
The Great Manitou was so pleased
with the fidelity and pity of the maiden
that he Immediately transferred her to
the bosom of the moon, where she still
lives to look down upon the daughters
of her nation.
l might relate to you many more OF
thesessingular stories, but these must
do for one time. I shall not tell you
just what think I have seen myself,
but / merely give you the myths to
think about, and leave it to your ovsn
bright eyes, blue and black, gray and
hazel, to picture for themselves ''the
folks who live in the moon. "-Frederick
Myron Colby, in Examiner.
A Wagon Maker Wanted
To occupy my shop on Hoard street