月何以美
The Moon is very beautiful with his round, bright face which shines
with soft and gentle light on all the world of man. But once there was
a time when he was not so beautiful as he is now. Six thousand years
ago the face of the Moon became changed in a single night. Before that
time his face had been so dark and gloomy that no one liked to look at
him, and for this reason he was always very sad.
One day he complained to the flowers and to the stars—for they were the
only things that would ever look in his face.
He said, “I do not like to be the Moon. I wish I were a star or a
flower. If I were a star, even the smallest one, some great general
would care for me; but alas! I am only the Moon and no one likes me. If
I could only be a flower and grow in a garden where the beautiful earth
women come, they would place me in their hair and praise my fragrance
and beauty. Or, if I could even grow in the wilderness where no one
could see, the birds would surely come and sing sweet songs for me. But
I am only the Moon and no one honors me.”
The stars answered and said, “We can not help you. We were born here
and we can not leave our places. We never had any one to help us. We do
our duty, we work all the day and twinkle in the dark night to make the
skies more beautiful.—But that is all we can do,” they added, as they
smiled coldly at the sorrowful Moon.
Then the flowers smiled sweetly and said, “We do not know how we can
help you. We live always in one place—in a garden near the most
beautiful maiden in all the world. As she is kind to every one in
trouble we will tell her about you. We love her very much and she loves
us. Her name is Tseh-N’io.”
Still the Moon was sad. So one evening he went to see the beautiful
maiden Tseh-N’io. And when he saw her he loved her at once. He said,
“Your face is very beautiful. I wish that you would come to me, and
that my face would be as your face. Your motions are gentle and full of
grace. Come with me and we will be as one—and perfect. I know that even
the worst people in all the world would have only to look at you and
they would love you. Tell me, how did you come to be so beautiful?”
“I have always lived with those who were gentle and happy, and I
believe that is the cause of beauty and goodness,” answered Tseh-N’io.
And so the Moon went every night to see the maiden. He knocked on her
window, and she came. And when he saw how gentle and beautiful she was,
his love grew stronger, and he wished more and more to be with her
always.
One day Tseh-N’io said to her mother, “I should like to go to the Moon
and live always with him. Will you allow me to go?”
Her mother thought so little of the question that she made no reply,
and Tseh-N’io told her friends that she was going to be the Moon’s
bride.
In a few days she was gone. Her mother searched everywhere but could
not find her. And one of Tseh-N’io’s friends said,—“She has gone with
the Moon, for he asked her many times.”
A year and a year passed by and Tseh-N’io, the gentle and beautiful
earth maiden, did not return. Then the people said, “She has gone
forever. She is with the Moon.”
The face of the Moon is very beautiful now. It is happy and bright and
gives a soft, gentle light to all the world. And there are those who
say that the Moon is now like Tseh-N’io, who was once the most
beautiful of all earth maidens.