The Moon's Bride

A long long time ago, in the darkest wilds of the most mysterious wood, was a child.

This child grew, living upon the fruits of the wood, until she became a woman. She lived with the soft animals that clustered around her body in the still of the night. She sang to the leaves upon the trees, and they sang back, telling her all that they heard, carried to them on the wings of the wind.

She lived like this for many years.

As time passed she grew more daring and adventurous, and soon ventured out of the wood to explore the lands beyond. She saw a great many things, and though she had no words for them, she was impressed just the same. She even saw beings that looked like her. She was very curious about these beings, but being timid, did not venture too close. She made it her habit to return to her wood before the rays of the morning sun touched the earth.

One eve, when the moon was high in the sky, and shining down from the palace in the most glorious way, she met a man outside the wood. When he caught sight of this glorious creature, not at all abashed by her own nakedness, he approached her and asked her to stay with him forever and always. Not understanding his words (for she only knew the song of the trees, the whisper of the wind, and the soft nuzzlings of her animal family) she merely looked at him. He repeated his request, and when she did not respond once again, he lunged for her. The woman danced back into her wood, and he followed, but she was feet of foot, and disappeared into the trees. She climbed on and hid in it's bosom until the man gave up his search and left.

Now, the moon-man in his castle in the sky had been observing this woman ever since she had wandered away from her tribe as a small child. He had watched her grow into the wild woman she had become. And he, as well, desired her to be his own. He had watched the way she had reacted to the human that had approached her, and he planned his own approach this delectable woman. Finally, one night, he darkened his castle in the sky, and came to earth. He entered the wood, and spoke to the woman in the words of night.

"Beautiful Creature, come with me to my castle. From there you can gaze upon things you have never imagined. And there, I shall love you, if you should love me."

"Why should I go to your splendid castle?" asked the woman in the song of nature. "What do you have there, that I cannot have here?"

"My love," answered the moon-man simply.

The woman thought and thought, and decided to leave the wood. she became the moon-man's mate, and went with him to his castle in the sky. He had a warm giving heart, and he spoke to her soul in a way that the birds and beasts were unable to.

But soon the wonder of being high above the world began to wane. She had seen many wonderful things from the windows of the castle, but she said to herself, "What is the good of seeing them from this height? They are so tiny and small, I might have well never looked at them."

She grew quite melancholy and nostalgic for her wood. The moon-man noticed this, He caressed her silken hair, and asked her what was troubling her.

The woman poured out her soul for him to see, the longing she felt to speak to the trees, to touch the gnarled bark of the firs, the silky flesh of the birches that was so like her own. The gentle tickling of the ferns, and the soft moist noses of the forest creatures. To hear the stories brought to her by the wind.

The moon-man saw how badly his love was aching, and his love for her ran so deep that he felt obliged to make her as happy as could be.

So, he returned her to her wood.

When she returned, she ran through her wood to make sure all was as it had been.

The moon-man found her, swaddled in her animals, trying to touch them all at once. Sadly, he said goodbye.

"Why must you leave?" she asked.

"Look to the sky, my love," he answered. "My palace is dark without me to tend to the lights there. I must return."

"Am I never to see you again?" she asked, tears beginning to trail down her cheeks.

The moon-man thought a while, and then he answered. "I an unable to visit every night, but every twenty-eighth night, I shall come to earth to see you, my love."

The woman thought of the twenty-seven days that she would not be able to see her husband.

"My love," she asked. "What if I were to visit you in the sky, halfway between your visits? For I also cannot bear to be away from my home- or you- for long."

The moon-man agreed to this.

He left and returned to his castle in the sky. The following night, he began to hang up lights, adding a few more each day, to prepare for his bride's arrival. The woman came, and they visited with each other, savoring each other's company even more than before.

She left in the morning.

He took down a few lights each night, until on the twenty-eighth day, his castle was dark. He left, and visited with his wife on earth.

He left in the morning.

And ever since, it has been this way.