Notebooks

Story: The origin of the Moon

Title

The origin of the Moon

Collection

Summary

The origin of the Moon is an episode in the story of the Mantis and his pet eland. When the Suricats, who were present at the cutting up of the eland, ill-treated the Mantis, he found upon a bush another eland’s gall-bladder, and this (as mentioned above) he pierced and broke, thereby creating a darkness into which he sprang; but, being inconvenienced by it, he took off one of his shoes and threw it into the sky, with the order that it should become the Moon. Thus the Moon is red, because the shoe of the Mantis was covered with the red dust of the Bushmanland, and cold, because it is only leather. We have two versions of this myth, a shorter one (LII.-24. 482-486), and a longer one, in which a good deal of conversation is introduced (BII. 379-390, 421-428, III.429-433), of which the final speech of the Mantis, as treating of the reasons for the changes of the Moon, is referred to the latter heading.

Comments

1) p.482: this story was told by ||kabbo's maternal grandfather (Tonno wwo) to his daughter (!kui ang), ||kabbo's mother, who told it to ||kabbo, 2) p.481v: a note on !kao (a little animal) who shot the eland with his arrow, 3) See also The Mantis and the Moon (version 1) and Sun and Moon story and The |kaggen who took |kammana's shoe, and turned it into an eland, 4) This story is found in Book II-4