Week 10 Story: The Girl and Moon

Landscape from Wikimedia

Once upon a time, there was a young girl who wanted to prove herself. Her tribe required that all the young people provide some gift or resource to its people before they could be considered adults. Her own coming of age day was soon arriving, but she had yet to think of what she could contribute to the tribe.

Three nights before she was to show up to the ceremony and bring her contribution, she sat upon a tall hill contemplating the sky. "What could my people possibly need?" she thought out loud to herself. "We are so prosperous already." She locked eyes with the moon while making this consideration when suddenly she felt herself being pulled by something strong. The pressure of the pull was so strong, she felt the need to close her eyes and cross her arms over her body.

When the pressure ceased, she slowly untwined her arms and opened her eyes. She could not believe was she was seeing. The great green plains were no longer in front of her. What she saw instead was a man and his wife, sitting in a pair of rocking chairs. The land around them was grey and rocky, lacking any sign of life.

"Who are you?" she asked cautiously.

"My name is Moon, and this is my wife Sun. You have heard of us, I presume?" he responded calmly.

"Of course, but I never knew you two were anything more than objects in my people's sky. How extraordinary!" She wasn't able to say much more than that in response to their presence.

"Extraordinary indeed," he pondered. "But I did not bring you here for such flattery. You made a wish in your heart. How may I grant it?"

"Well, Moon, I will soon be coming of age. I need a gift for my people, or my ceremony will be delayed. I need some contribution or else my parents will be disappointed, and I will be ostracized," the girl replied in strength.

Moon stared at her before taking his wife's hand and slowly rising from his rocking chair. He strode past the girl and said, "Follow me. I believe I know what we can do for that contribution of yours."

Doing as she was instructed, she followed Moon and Sun. They were each much taller than she had realized, with both being at least six and a half feet. Each also had incredibly long brown hair. She couldn't help but admire them as she walked behind them. She was only a mere five feet tall, and here hair never could seem to grow past her shoulder blades. All too soon, they had reached their destination and the girl came to a halt.

"Here I house a number of unique animals. Pick two for your people, and your contribution will be twice as great. Surely no one could be disappointed then," he said with a smile. He spoke with such a calming and wise voice that the girl was mesmerized.

"Then I will take two animals that could provide us with food, clothing, and fuel. I'd like two highly resourceful animals," she decided in an instant. Even if her tribe was prosperous, there were often times when food just didn't come through and the people went hungry.

"If that is the case, then I will provide you with the deer and the seal. Both are capable of giving you everything you desire." With that, he swept his hand across the sky, and the two animals were brought to him. He touched each animal on the head gently, saying his goodbyes. Suddenly, the deer and seal became figurines. Moon gingerly placed them into a leather pouch. "Here, take this with you. When you are at your ceremony, give this to your parents. They will open the pouch and see the gift you have given them. Once the pouch is opened, the wild will be populated. Tell them of what has happened here and they will believe you."

She took it from Moon's hand and thanked him profusely. Before she could say more than a few words of thanks to Sun as well, she felt another strong pull on her body. This time when she opened her eyes, she was back upon her hill, with miles of grass ahead of her. When she looked in her hand, she saw the pouch and knew all would be well.


Author's note: If you hadn't caught on, this story is heavily based on the story of The Man in the Moon from the legends of British North America. The original recipient of the animals was a man, an Eskimo to be exact. He was taken to the moon of his own free will, with his guardian spirit taking him there. There he met Moon, who was married to Sun and had a dog. The Moon offered the man an animal and a seal, and each dropped down to the Earth once chosen. The original does not seem to have many details, so I added them in. I made the protagonist a teenage girl from some unknown tribe since I am not very educated in the specifics of any one tribe. I also added dialogue! Either way, in each story, people are gifted a deer and a seal by the moon.

Bibliography

The Man in the Moon from Judson's Myths and Legends of British North America