A Moonlight Trip on the Lake--The Legend of the
Orphan Boy--His Appeal to the Man in the Moon--How
He Conquered His Enemies.
Moonlight nights in the Northland are often very beautiful. There in the
summer time the gloaming continues until nearly midnight. Then nothing can
be more glorious than to glide along amid the beautiful fir-clad rocky
islands in a birch canoe over the still transparent waters. So large and
luminous are the full moons of July and August that, with the west aglow
and with the wondrous aurora flashing and blazing in the north, there is
practically little night and no darkness at all.
Nothing gave the children greater pleasure than to have permission to go
with Mary and Kennedy in a large roomy birch canoe for a moonlight
excursion during one of those warm, brilliant nights. With plenty of rugs
or cushions, to make the coziest of seats in the center of the canoe, they
fairly reveled in the beauties of the romantic surroundings while they
floated on the moonlit lake. Often in some place of more than ordinary
beauty Kennedy would cease paddling, and then their very quietness added
to the charms of those happy outings.
[Illustration: With Mary and Kennedy in the birch canoe.]
"Say, Mary," said Sagastao, "I was reading in one of my books about the
'man in the moon.' Do you know anything about him?"
"He is looking at us very kindly to-night," said Minnehaha. "I really
believe I saw him laughing, he is so pleased we have come out to see him
this lovely night."
These remarks of the children caused all in the canoe to more closely scan
the great round moon that was shining with silvery whiteness straight in
front of them.
"There are lots of stories about the moon among our people," said Mary,
"but not a great many about the man in the moon. There is, however, a queer
one about how he came down and helped a poor orphan boy."
"O, tell it to us just now," said Minnehaha, "while he is watching and
listening."
"Do, Mary," said Sagastao, "and Minnehaha and I will watch the old fellow
and see how he likes to be talked about."
"Well," said Minnehaha, "Mary will be talking to him to his face, and not
behind his back, as people sometimes do when talking about others."
Thus the children ran on with their prattle. Mary and Kennedy were much
amused.
"Come, Mary, hurry up! Father said the gloaming would end about eleven, and
we must be at the shore by that time."
"Pretty late hours for little children," said Kennedy.
"Never mind that," said Sagastao; "we will make up for it in winter time,
when it gets dark at four o'clock."
With Sagastao on one side of her in the big canoe and Minnehaha on the
other--their favorite positions when listening to her fascinating stories
as she crooned them out in her soft, musical Cree--Mary told them the
story.
"Long ago," she began, "there was a poor orphan boy who had neither father
nor mother, uncle, aunt, nor any living relative that he knew of. He had a
very hard time of it, as the people did not seem to take kindly to him. So
he had to live just where he could. He managed to get along all right
during the pleasant summer time, but when the long cold winters began he
suffered very much. One winter some selfish people let him live with them
because he was willing to work hard for what little they did for him. They
treated him badly in many ways. They made him go out into the woods and cut
firewood, but when he brought it home they would only allow him to stay in
the cold entry-way which they had built to their winter dwelling.
"They made him go and hunt different animals for food, and then when he
brought, them home they cooked and ate the best themselves, and just threw
the fragments and bones to him as they would to a dog. Every member of the
household treated him very cruelly, except a nice little girl, the youngest
daughter of the family. She felt very sorry for him. She would secretly
take him better food, and she furnished him with a knife with which he
could cut the tough pieces of meat. She had to be very careful not to be
discovered, for if found out she would have been severely punished. So her
pity had to show itself on the sly, and the few words she was able to tell
him of her sympathy had to be whispered as she passed him, when nobody was
looking or listening. The poor boy up to this time had no ambition to
better himself, but her kind words and deeds made him resolve that he must
begin and do something for himself. But what could he do? Everybody seemed
against him but this little girl, and she could do nothing in the way of
helping him to escape from these people, who, now that he was becoming so
useful to them, would not let him go. What, really, could he do?
"Thus the days and weeks and months passed on and there seemed no chance of
escape. He had tried to run away, but had been caught and brought back and
beaten.
"One night when it was not very cold he went outside of the narrow entry
where he generally had to sleep and threw himself on the ground and cried
in his sorrow and despair. He seemed to be utterly unable to better
himself. As he lay there he began looking up at the great bright moon that,
now so large and round, was, he thought, looking earnestly at him. Soon he
was able to see that there was a great man in the moon. As he watched him
he was glad to notice that he was not looking crossly at him, but kindly,
and so he began crying to the man in the moon to come and help him to
escape from the miserable life he was leading. Sure enough, as the boy kept
on crying and pleading he saw the man in the moon beginning to come down to
this world. He came to the very spot where the unhappy boy was lying, but
instead of helping him he made him stand up and then he gave him a good
sound thrashing, making the boy, however, strike back at him as vigorously
as he could. The beating he got very much disheartened and discouraged the
boy, for it was not what he had expected. On the following night, when he
had recovered a little, he began reproaching the man in the moon.
"'I called for you,' he said, 'to come and help me against my enemies, and
now you have come and thrashed me.'
"But these words, instead of softening the man in the moon, caused him to
come down again and give the poor boy a far worse thrashing than before,
but for every blow he made the boy return one as good as he had received.
"Now for the first time the boy began to notice that the more he was beaten
the stronger he grew. Still he could not understand what the man in the
moon meant. So he came again, and they had another regular set-to, and the
boy had another good sound thrashing. He asked him what was the meaning of
his beating him thus. The man in the moon now spoke to him, but his words
were so much like a puzzle that at first the boy did not understand them.
This is what the man in the moon said:
"'Would you triumph o'er the strong?
Be strong.
Would you let them no more conquer?
Conquer.'
"For a time the boy repeated them over and over. He used to say that as the
result of these meetings with the man in the moon he had grown so strong
that he was nearly able to hold his own against his antagonist. Then one
day, when the man in the moon was puffing from the encounter, the latter
said:
"'Now by hard knocks and exercise I have put you on the way of ending your
troubles. Be strong, and conquer. Farewell! I am not coming again, as you
do not need me any more.'
"Then away he flew back to his place in the moon.
"The boy seemed now to know that he was to use his strength for his own
deliverance. To test himself he began tossing up the stones that were so
numerous on the shore of the lake. First he began with quite small ones,
but soon he found that he could pick up and throw about great big ones,
that were like rocks. When he returned from this last contest with the man
in the moon it was nearly daylight.
"At first the people began ordering him about as usual. But they soon had
reason to be sorry for their cruelty and abuse, for the boy seized one
after another of them and flung them with such violence against the rocks
that their brains were dashed out and their blood ran in streams down the
sides of the rocks--where it turned into seams in the rocks which can be
seen to this day.
"One person only, of all who lived in that dwelling, did the now strong boy
leave alive, and that was, of course, the good-hearted little girl who used
to speak kind words to him and befriend him when she could.
"They grew to be very fond of each other, and were afterward married and
lived in full possession of all the things that once belonged to the cruel
people for whom the little orphan boy had worked so long."
"Well, sakehou," said Sagastao, "I have been watching the man in the moon
while you have been telling the story about his queer way of helping the
boy to help himself, and he was looking pleased all the time. So I am sure
he is well satisfied with the way you have told the story."
Old Mary was delighted with these words from the lips of the lad she loved
with such a passionate devotion.
"But what do you think about it, little sister?" said the lad, calling to
Minnehaha, who was cuddled down on the other side of Mary.
But the darling gave no answer, for she had long ago slipped off into
Dreamland, and there she remained until the strong arms of Kennedy lifted
her up from the canoe and carried her home.