MR. 'POSSUM HAS SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT THE MOON WHICH SHEDS NEW LIGHT ON
THE SUBJECT
This is the story told by Mr. 'Possum when he and Mr. 'Coon and Jack
Rabbit sat on the edge of the world and hung their feet over and looked
at the moon:--
"Well," said Mr. 'Possum, "a good many years ago, when there were a
great many more chickens than there are now, and Mr. Man took good care
of them for us and let them roost in trees instead of locking them up
every night in an unhealthy little pen, my folks used to go around
sometimes after Mr. Man had gone to bed, and look them over and pick out
what they wanted for the next day.
"I don't know why we ever began the custom of picking out our victuals
at night that way, when it was dark and dangerous, but somehow we always
did it, and have kept it up ever since."
"Humph!" said the 'Coon.
"Yes," continued Mr. 'Possum, "that was before there was any moon, and
the nights were always dark. It wasn't a good time to choose food, and
very often my folks made a mistake and got a seven-year-old bantam hen
instead of a spring pullet, which is about the same size.
"This happened so much that by and by a very wise 'Possum, named
Smoothe, said that if they would keep him in chickens of a youthful and
tender sort he would fix up a light, so they could see and know what
they were doing. They all agreed to do it, and that night Smoothe built
a big fire in the top of a tall tree and sat up there and 'tended to it
until nearly morning, and my folks brought home the finest lot of
chickens that Mr. Man had raised for them in a good many years."
[Illustration: USED TO FALL ASLEEP AND DREAM ABOUT IT.]
"Well, there was never any trouble after that to pick out young meat,
and Smoothe kept the fire going nights and ate a good deal and got
pretty fat, so that he didn't like to work, and kept planning some way
to make his job easier. He wanted to find a light that he wouldn't have
to 'tend to and keep piling wood on all night. He thought about this for
a long time, and used to fall asleep and dream about it, and once he let
the fire go out, and fell out of the tree and nearly gave up his job
altogether."
[Illustration: A TOP-KNOT CROW NAMED DUSK.]
"Well, while he was getting well he had a good deal of company, and one
day a top-knot crow named Dusk came to see him. Now, you know that our
friend Mr. Crow is a wise bird to-day, but in the old times a top-knot
crow was wiser than anything that now flies or walks, and Dusk was a
very old bird. He knew a great deal about Mr. Man and his ways, and he
told Smoothe that he had seen in Mr. Man's pantry, where he went
sometimes, a light that would not go out during a whole night, and that
had a big bright something behind it that would throw the light in any
direction. Dusk, who used to carry off almost everything he saw, whether
he wanted it or not, said that he thought he might carry this light off
if Smoothe would be willing to let him have a few chickens for a party
he was going to give.
"Smoothe told him he might take his pick out of his share of the
chickens for the next six months if he would only bring that light, and
Dusk didn't waste any time, but brought it the very next evening."
[Illustration: THE BRIGHT ROUND THING THREW THE LIGHT JUST WHERE HE
WANTED IT.]
"It was a beautiful light, and Smoothe fastened it to the tip top of the
tall tree, so that it would swing in any direction, and the bright round
thing behind it threw the light just where he wanted it. It burned oil,
and he used to fill it up with chicken oil in the evening and it would
burn all night and make a better light than the fire ever did. So all he
had to do was to keep it filled and turned in the direction that my
folks were harvesting their chicken crop, and then he could go to bed
and sleep all night if he wanted to.
"And that's just what he did do. And one night while he was asleep there
came up a terrible storm. Of course, if Smoothe had been awake he would
have taken the light down; but he wasn't awake, and the first he knew he
heard broken limbs falling and crashing all around, and he jumped up and
ran out just in time to see the tip top of the lamp tree break off,
lamp and all, and go whirling round and round, right straight up in the
air till it got to the sky, and there it stuck fast. It never went out,
either, but kept on turning round and round and giving light in
different directions at different times in the month.
"And that," said Mr. 'Possum, "is the moon. And you don't always see it
because sometimes the bright reflecting thing is turned in the other
direction. And when it's turned part way round you see part of it, and
it's always been so ever since that night Smoothe went to sleep and the
storm came up and carried it off."
"Humph!" said the 'Coon.
"What makes those spots on it, then?" said the Rabbit.
"Why," said Mr. 'Possum, thinking as quick as he could, "those--those
are--are some leaves that blew against the reflecting thing and stayed
there."
[Illustration: "'NONSENSE!" SAID THE RABBIT.]
"Nonsense!" said the Rabbit.