When the moon is round and full, if you look very carefully at the
golden disk you can see in shadowy outline the profile of a beautiful
lady. She is leaning forward as if looking down upon our earth, and
there is a little smile upon her sweet lips. This fair dame is Putri
Balan, the Princess of the Moon, and she smiles because she remembers
how once upon a time she cheated old Mr. Owl, her tiresome lover.
Putri Balan, so they tell you in Malay, was always very, very beautiful,
as we see her now. Like all the Malay women, Putri Balan loved to chew
the spicy betel-nut which turns one's lips a bright scarlet. It is
better, so they say, than any kind of candy, and it is considered much
nicer and more respectable than chewing-gum. So Putri Balan was not
unladylike, although she chewed her betel-nut all night long.
Now, ever since the day when Mr. Owl carelessly let the naughty little
Wren escape from prison, the shamed and sorry old fellow had never
dared to show his face abroad in daylight. Gradually his eyes grew
blurred and blinky, till now he could not see anything by day, even if
he were to try.
So it happens that there are many delightful things about which old Mr.
Owl does not know,--things which take place while the beautiful sun is
shining. But also there are marvelous sights, unknown to early-sleeping
birds, which he enjoys all by himself. For at night his queer eyes are
wonderfully strong and bright. All day long he sits in his hollow tree,
but when the other feathered folk are drowsing upon their roosts, or are
snugly rolled up in their little nests, with their heads tucked under
their downy wings, old Mr. Owl puts on his round spectacles and goes
a-prowling up and down the world through the woods and meadows (like
Haroun-al-Rashid in the streets of Bagdad), spying all sorts of queer
doings.
And this is how old Mr. Owl happened to see the fair Princess Putri
Balan, smiling down from her moon upon the sleeping world of birds who
had never seen her and never would see her in all her loveliness.
How beautiful she was! How bright and wonderful! Old Mr. Owl stared up
in wide-eyed astonishment, and then and there fell in love with her,
and resolved to ask her to be his wife.
Cramming on his spectacles more tightly and ruffling the feathers about
his neck, he flew up and up and up, as high as ever he dared to go,
until he was within hailing distance of the moon. Then he called out in
his softest tones,--which were harsh enough to any ears,--
"O fair Moon-Maiden, O beautiful Princess, will you marry me? For I love
you very dearly."
The Princess Putri Balan stopped chewing her betel-nut for a moment and
looked down to see what daring creature might thus be addressing her.
Soon she spied Mr. Owl with his goggle-eyes looking up at her adoringly.
He was such a ridiculous old creature, and his spectacles glinted so
queerly in the moonlight, that Putri Balan began to laugh and answered
him not at all. She laughed so hard that she almost swallowed her
betel-nut, which might have been a serious matter.
Mr. Owl continued to stare, for he saw nothing funny in the situation.
Again he repeated in his hoarse voice, "O fair Moon-Maiden, O beautiful
Princess, will you marry me? For I love you very dearly."
Again the Princess laughed, for she thought it a tremendous joke; and
again she nearly choked. Mr. Owl waited, but she made him no other
answer. However, he was a persistent lover. All night long he went on
asking the same question, over and over again, until the Princess Putri
Balan was quite worn out trying not to choke with laughter while she
chewed the betel-nut. At last she said impatiently,--
"O Mr. Goggle-Eyes! Do give me a moment's peace! You make me laugh so
that I cannot chew my betel-nut. Yes, I will say _yes_, if you will only
leave me to finish my betel-nut undisturbed. I will marry you. But you
must go away until I have quite done."
Then Mr. Owl was filled with joy. "Thanks, thanks, O most gracious
lady!" he said. "I will go away and leave you to finish your betel-nut
undisturbed. But I shall come again to-morrow night, and by that time
you will have done with it, and then you will be mine!"
Mr. Owl flew back to his home in the hollow tree, for it was almost
morning, and already he was growing so blind that he could hardly find
the way. But the Princess Putri Balan went on chewing the betel-nut, and
to herself she said,--
[Illustration: _Putri Balan began to laugh_]
"How am I to rid myself of this bore? I cannot chew this little
betel-nut forever; there must be an end to it before long. Mr. Owl
will certainly come again to-morrow night, and then, according to my
promise, I must become his wife. I cannot marry old Goggle-Eyes. Oh
dear! What shall I do?"
As she chewed her betel-nut the Princess Putri Balan hit upon a plan.
She would manage to cheat old Mr. Owl after all. She would never finish
the betel-nut! She took the little bit that remained,--and it was a
dangerously little bit, for the Princess had been chewing all night
long, except when she was laughing,--and reaching out from the moon she
tossed it down, down, down upon the earth. At the same time she said a
magic moon-charm: and when the bit of betel-nut reached the earth, it
became a little bird,--the same which the Malay people call the Honey
Bird, with brilliant, beautiful plumage. And the Princess Putri Balan
cried out to it from her golden house,--
"Fly away, pretty little bright bird! Fly as far and as fast as ever you
can, and keep out of Mr. Owl's way. For it is you who must save me from
becoming his unhappy wife."
So the Honey Bird flew away, a brilliant streak, through the Malay
woods, and hid himself in a little nest.
When night came out stole Mr. Owl, with his spectacles in place, and up
he flew to his Princess, whom he now hoped to call his very own.
"Good evening, my beautiful Princess!" he cried. "Have you finished your
betel-nut at last, and are you ready to keep your promise?"
But the Princess Putri Balan looked down at him, pretending to be sad,
though there was a twinkle in her beautiful eye; and she said,--
"Alas! Mr. Owl, a dreadful thing has happened. I lost my betel-nut,
before it was quite finished. It fell down, down, down, until I think it
reached the earth. And I cannot marry you, according to my promise,
until it is finished."
"Then it must be found!" cried Mr. Owl. "I will find it. My eyes are
sharp at night and nothing escapes them. Shine kindly on me, Princess,
and I will find the betel-nut for you, and you shall yet be mine."
"Go then, Mr. Owl," said the Princess, smiling to herself. "Go and look
for the betel-nut which I must finish before I marry you. Search
carefully and you may find it soon."
Poor Mr. Owl searched carefully, but he could not find the bit of
betel-nut. Of course he could not find it, when it had changed and flown
away as a beautiful, many-colored bird! All that night he sought, till
the sun sent him blinking to his tree. And all the next night he
sought, and the next, and the next. And he kept on seeking for days and
months and years, while the Princess Putri Balan smiled down upon him
and was happy at heart because of her clever scheme.
Old Mr. Owl never found out the trick, nor suspected the innocent little
Honey Bird, whom indeed he scarcely ever saw, because it was a
sunset-sleeping bird, while he was a wistful, lonely, sad night-prowler.
Up and down, up and down the world he goes, still looking for the
betel-nut of the Princess Putri Balan, which he will never find. And as
he flies in the moonlight he glances ever longingly at the beautiful
lady in the moon, and sobs "Hoo-hoo! Hoo-hoo!" in grief and despair. For
after all these centuries he begins to fear that she will never be his
wife.