How to Steal the Moon

How to Steal the Moon

(A Tale from the Caroline Islands)

Long ago, the chief of a tiny atoll in the Central Caroline Islands had a beautiful daughter. She was so beautiful she refused to marry the young men of her island. Her father worried about her, especially at night, when he would gaze at the moon. He loved the moon. Then he had an idea: he would gather the people of the island together and find someone clever enough to bring it down from the sky. Such a person would be worthy of his daughter.

At the chief's meeting, a boy appeared. He claimed he could deliver to his chief the glowing white moon. He was from a poor family, but the chief didn't mind. “Give it your best try," he told him. So the boy went home to ask his mother's advice.

There is a path that leads to the moon," his mother said. “It's invisible except to those who are walking on it. One end reaches to the beach where the bent palm tree grows. Go there and reach up with your arms. Like this." His mother stood as tall as she could and reached into the sky. “A power like the wind will lift you up. Then the path will grow solid under your feet. It glitters like golden flecks in the sand. Follow the path all the way to the moon.”

The boy did as his mother instructed. He walked all the way up to the moon. On the way, he passed several people sitting by the edge of the path. They gave him many gifts: two plovers, two roosters, one pandanus fruit, and a hibiscus stick.

When he reached heaven, the boy entered a men's house that was taboo for humans. Inside sat Yalulep, the Carolinian high god. And there, hanging from the ridgepole, was the moon! The moon belonged to Yalulep. How could the boy get it away from him?

He began to tell stories to Yalulep‘s guards, who were sitting outside the meeting house. They were beautiful, sweet stories. One by one the guards fell asleep. Then the boy sneaked back inside Yalulep’s house and untied the moon. He hid its bright side against his body so no light would spill. Then he crept back outside as quietly as he could. When he was far enough away, he ran as fast as he could hack to earth!

Yalulep yelled with rage when he discovered he had been robbed. He sent a fast runner to chase after the boy. Fast, fast, they ran, wind whistling in their ears. The runner was faster than the boy. Just as he lunged for the boy's heels, the boy untied the two plovers he had been given on the walk up to the sky. Right away they began to fight! The runner couldn’t help it-he sat down to watch. The boy ran on.

The runner soon realized the boy was escaping, so he got up and chased him. Soon he was so close the boy could feel his hot breath on his neck! Then the boy untied the roosters and let them go. They began to peck each other's eyes out. The runner couldn’t help it-this he had to see. He decided to take the roosters for himself. He wrapped his hands around the roosters' throats and ran back to heaven.

Yalulep was angry. “You greedy rooster-grabber!" he yelled. He called his fastest runner of all, who ran as fast as the wind. “Catch that boy who stole my moon," he yelled. How fast the fastest runner caught the boy! The boy felt his hand tighten around his ankle. Just as he began to fall, the boy threw down the pandanus fruit. A huge jungle of pandanus sprang up, thick as the stars in the heavens! The boy was on one side of this spiny jungle, and the runner was on the other. Yalulep’s runner didn’t have a machete. He could barely crawl through the thick, spiky plants. Soon his hands and feet were covered with blood.

The boy was nearly back on earth. Oh no! The fastest runner came out of the pandanus jungle and grabbed him by the hair! The boy threw down the hibiscus stick. Again a jungle sprang up. This time the boy made it safely home. His mother welcomed him with delicious fish and breadfruit.

The boy went to the chief’s house. Proudly, he handed him the glowing sphere. But he warned the chief that he must follow his mother's words exactly.“Do not take the covers off the moon," he said.

The chief considered these words and nodded. “Now you have earned my blessing to marry my daughter," the chief said.

Alas, the chief could not resist his curiosity. What could be so wrong with peeling off just one layer of the glowing moon? So one day he peeled back the thinnest outer layer of the moon. It grew brighter and more beautiful, like the golden inside of a mango. So he peeled off another. And another. What was wrong with brightness? What was wrong with beauty? Uh oh-the chief took off all of the covers.

The moon slipped from his hands, as slippery as a fish. The bright, beautiful moon, the dazzling moon, flew off to its home in the sky. The chief was very sad about this. He called the boy to ask for advice. “There's nothing I can do,” said the boy. “It is better this way. Now everyone who looks up will know that this moon belongs to you." The chief nodded. He hadn't thought of it that way.

After that, the chief was happy. He watched his moon each night, like a glowing ring in the ear of the sky.

Source:

Pacific Island Legends: Tales from Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia and Australia.

Nancy Bo Flood, Beret E. Strong, William Flood

1991

Pages: 51 - 54