"The man in the moon
Came down too soon
To ask his way to Norwich"?
But the question is, how did he get in the moon, and what is he doing
there? Most people can see only a face in the moon, and not always that;
but in old times it was firmly believed that there was an actual man in
the moon, with a bundle of sticks on his back, which he had to carry
always as a punishment for gathering them on Sunday.
Some of the old English poets represented the man in the moon as a
thief, who had been sent there for stealing, with a thorn bush on his
back. Sometimes he had a dog with him for company, and in Shakspeare's
_Midsummer Night's Dream_ it is said,
"This man, with lantern, dog, and bush of thorn,
Presenteth moonshine."
In Sweden, the country people say that the spots on the moon are a girl
and boy carrying a pail of water between them, whom the moon once
kidnapped and carried up to heaven. But the Germans see a man and woman
in the moon, who were put there for punishment; the man because he
strewed thorns and brambles on the path to church to prevent people from
going there on Sunday morning, and the woman because she did her
churning on that holy day. The man has to carry a bundle of thorns, and
the woman her butter tub, and to stand in the moon always as a warning
to other Sabbath-breakers.
The Dutch say that the man was caught stealing vegetables. But in the
island of Ceylon they speak of "the _hare_ in the moon," instead of the
man, and tell this story about it:
Buddha, the god whom they worship, was once a hermit on earth, and got
lost in a forest. He wandered about until he met a hare, which said to
him, "I can help you out of your trouble; take the path on your left
hand, and it will lead you out of the forest."
"I am very much obliged to you," replied Buddha, "but I am very poor and
very hungry, and have nothing to offer you as a reward for your
kindness."
"If you are hungry," returned the hare, "I am again at your service.
Make a fire, kill me, roast me, and eat me."
Buddha made the fire, the hare at once jumped into it, and has been seen
in the moon ever since.
There are any number of old superstitions and strange beliefs in regard
to the moon. In Suffolk County, England, it is considered unlucky to
kill a pig when the moon is waning. The pork, so the old wives say, will
waste in the boiling. Another fancy is that to look at the moon for the
first time through glass brings ill luck. According to an old rhyme,
"A Saturday's moon,
If it comes once in seven years,
Comes once too soon."
The application of this is that if the new moon happens on a Saturday
the weather will be bad for the ensuing month.
The Chinese represent the moon by the figure of a rabbit pounding rice
in a mortar, and sometimes by a beautiful young woman with a rabbit at
her feet. But, after all, we have got to let most of our fancies in
regard to the moon go. They will not stand for a moment after one glance
through an astronomer's telescope.
[Illustration: HOW JUMBO CROSSED THE OCEAN.]