The sun., 1910-01-30
THE SPOTS ON THE MOON.
Many Legends Evolved I'm Many Lands
TO Account for Them.

In every country in the world people
have spun fancies about the curious spots
on the bright round face OF the moon.
The American Indians tell two legends
accounting for these spots. One is that
the man in the moon was a hunter with
his dog. banished to the sky for some
transgression.
The other relates that long ago group
Of Indian boys met every evening to
dance about one OF their number who
was a sweet singer. At last one night
when their parents refused their request
for dainties to make great feast they
danced as usual. and the singer sang
more sweetly than ever before. As he
sang they danced ever faster.
Still singing, he rose into the air; still
they whirled around him. Their parents
called them. but they only rose and danced
higher. The one boy who looked back
fell to the earth and changed into pine
tree. The others rose till they stepped
into the moon. where they may be seen
on any moonlight night.
On certain nights Of the year Indians
still climb high as possible into pine
trees and stretching their arms toward
the heavens. chant prayers to these boys
to bring blessings from the moon to
the earth.
In New Zealand the Maoris say that
man went out one night and stumbling
sprainsd his ankle. Whereon he iamented
30 loudly that at last the moon came down
and took hold OF him. In his fright he
seized a bush, but the moon pulled that
up by the roots and sailed back into the
sky with both man and bush.
In China moon worship still exists and
the Chinese say that the man in the moon
arranges marriages and ties together
with an invisible silken cord the youths
and maidens he intends to unite.
Cinnamon call the woman in the moon |
the queen Of all fairies and fancy they
Samoan Islanders believe that the
moOn came down one night and stole
the woman Sina working in the twilight. |
Never able to return to earth; you may
see her now in the moon, with her mallet
and the board on which she was beating
out bark to make cloth.
About nine days after the new moon
a pretty. Enthusiastically feminine face
This lunar lady, who is worth watching
for. is formed by the mountains and
tablelands embraced by the Seas Of Tran
quillity. vapors and Serenity. and is best
seen through an ordinary opera glass.
The Buddhists relate that the god
sakria. disguised as Brahmin. pretended
starvation and sought help from the
animals. A monkey gave him a bunch
OF mangoes; a coot picked up for him a
tisherman's neglected haul; a fox stole
him a pot Of milk. Then he appealed to
the hare.
-rve nothing but grass; you can't eat
that" said the hare. ~
But your fiesh is good rejoined the
seeming Brahmin.
Yes" the hare said.
Then, suggested the god, -I'l make
q fire at the foot OF this rock; YOU iump
on into It. and I'll be saved the trouble Of
killing you"
The hare nodded and leaped; but when
he was In the air the god caught him in |
his arms, and then drew the figure of the |
hare in the moon as perpetual reminder |
Of the beauty of self-sacrifice.
While the Indians OF India see a hare
the Indians OF America behold a child In |
the moon. A British Columbian tribe
assert that a child who cried in the night |
for water. and was unnoticed by its |
mother; saw the moon appear at the door
OF the lodge with a pot of water, which |
the child had no sooner drunk than the
moon carried the infant back to the sky. |
where both may still be seen.
The moon legend Of the Eskimos is
more about her phases than about any
thing visible on her face. According TO |
them the sun and moon are brother and |
sister. Once in a fit OF anger the sun |
burned one side OF his sisters face GOAL |
has been chasing her ever since. When |
the burned side OF her face must be turned |
toward US she disappears.
Some OF the ancients believed that the |
souls Of the good who died on earth went |
to the side OF the moon turned away from
earth, while sinners went to sojo,irn on |
the side OF the moon visible to mortals, |
thus being obliged to spend eternity in |
full view of the scene Of their crimes.
Some moon beliefs of the Indians in
the north OF the American continent have
been given. In the south, Aztecs deified
the moon under the name of MeztIi and
erected a pyramid of the moon. A
chapel was consecrated to .her in the
Temple OF the Sun at Cuzco and she was
reverenced next to the sun. and believed
to be his sister and wife and the mother
OF the Incas.