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