68 lines
4.1 KiB
Text
68 lines
4.1 KiB
Text
The Moon
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In days gone by there was a land where the nights were always dark, and
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the sky spread over it like a black cloth, for there the moon never
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rose, and no star shone in the obscurity. At the creation of the world,
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the light at night had been sufficient. Three young fellows once went
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out of this country on a travelling expedition, and arrived in another
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kingdom, where, in the evening when the sun had disappeared behind the
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mountains, a shining globe was placed on an oak-tree, which shed a soft
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light far and wide. By means of this, everything could very well be
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seen and distinguished, even though it was not so brilliant as the sun.
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The travellers stopped and asked a countryman who was driving past with
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his cart, what kind of a light that was. “That is the moon,” answered
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he; “our mayor bought it for three thalers, and fastened it to the
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oak-tree. He has to pour oil into it daily, and to keep it clean, so
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that it may always burn clearly. He receives a thaler a week from us
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for doing it.”
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When the countryman had driven away, one of them said, “We could make
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some use of this lamp, we have an oak-tree at home, which is just as
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big as this, and we could hang it on that. What a pleasure it would be
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not to have to feel about at night in the darkness!” “I’ll tell you
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what we’ll do,” said the second; “we will fetch a cart and horses and
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carry away the moon. The people here may buy themselves another.” “I’m
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a good climber,” said the third, “I will bring it down.” The fourth
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brought a cart and horses, and the third climbed the tree, bored a hole
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in the moon, passed a rope through it, and let it down. When the
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shining ball lay in the cart, they covered it over with a cloth, that
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no one might observe the theft. They conveyed it safely into their own
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country, and placed it on a high oak. Old and young rejoiced, when the
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new lamp let its light shine over the whole land, and bed-rooms and
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sitting-rooms were filled with it. The dwarfs came forth from their
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caves in the rocks, and the tiny elves in their little red coats danced
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in rings on the meadows.
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The four took care that the moon was provided with oil, cleaned the
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wick, and received their weekly thaler, but they became old men, and
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when one of them grew ill, and saw that he was about to die, he
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appointed that one quarter of the moon, should, as his property, be
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laid in the grave with him. When he died, the mayor climbed up the
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tree, and cut off a quarter with the hedge-shears, and this was placed
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in his coffin. The light of the moon decreased, but still not visibly.
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When the second died, the second quarter was buried with him, and the
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light diminished. It grew weaker still after the death of the third,
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who likewise took his part of it away with him; and when the fourth was
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borne to his grave, the old state of darkness recommenced, and whenever
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the people went out at night without their lanterns they knocked their
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heads together.
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When, however, the pieces of the moon had united themselves together
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again in the world below, where darkness had always prevailed, it came
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to pass that the dead became restless and awoke from their sleep. They
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were astonished when they were able to see again; the moonlight was
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quite sufficient for them, for their eyes had become so weak that they
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could not have borne the brilliance of the sun. They rose up and were
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merry, and fell into their former ways of living. Some of them went to
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the play and to dance, others hastened to the public-houses, where they
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asked for wine, got drunk, brawled, quarreled, and at last took up
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cudgels, and belabored each other. The noise became greater and
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greater, and at last reached even to heaven.
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Saint Peter who guards the gate of heaven thought the lower world had
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broken out in revolt and gathered together the heavenly troops, which
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are to drive back the Evil One when he and his associates storm the
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abode of the blessed. As these, however, did not come, he got on his
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horse and rode through the gate of heaven, down into the world below.
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There he reduced the dead to subjection, bade them lie down in their
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graves again, took the moon away with him, and hung it up in heaven.
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