The Moon, which was the then Sun, was a mighty naughty one. Sometimes even selfish, some would argue, for it only looked for ways to peeve others and it lacked empathy. It was always up to some mischief or the other. When the villagers kept grain out to dry, it would hide. When they wanted to sleep, it would refuse to go down. When they wanted to wake up early for their chores, it would lie low in its relaxation. On certain days, the Moon would shine so bright that all nature would thirst and sweat the whole day. But nobody thought that these seemingly meaningless pranks were leading to something far more dangerous.
The Moon became so arrogant and power-driven that he overstepped all limits. With this newfound power- drunkenness, one day it radiated all its stinging heat onto the earth. The valleys and hills, the plants and trees, the animal and birds, were all dying and drying up. It looked like the villagers were going to have a bad crop, thanks to the errant Moon. They could neither work nor rest well. It was scorching hot and it was raining perspiration from their bodies. ‘Aah, dear Moon, do rest your might for a bit, won’t you? We will all die and perish here, if you do not stop,’ they lamented, wiping off the incessant beads of sweat from their faces with their cloths. ‘Have mercy on our children at least,’ pleaded some villagers but all the pleading went unheeded. Never had the Moon shone so bright and hot. But the Moon was not in the least perturbed. It was not sensitive to the purpose of its gift. All that it wanted was to exert its power and show off. Everyone was full of complaints and curses for the Moon.
The Sun decided to step in as mediator and called the Moon for a discussion. It addressed Moon with a question: ‘Why are you so obstinate and haughty? Why are you punishing the innocent valleys and hills, the trees and flowers, the leaves and the humans too? What wrong have they done to you?’ There was no response. There was only pride and hauteur. So the Sun continued, ‘If you are made to continue being the centre and so powerful, then the whole Earth is going to shrivel They will never be able to withstand your mighty heat. The up and go extinct. Earth will become barren and there will be neither man
nor nature. You do not deserve to hold this post. You are abusing your gift so I hereby dethrone you.’ So saying, the Sun picked up some cow dung and splattered the Moon’s face with it.
The embarrassed Moon picked up what was left of his pride and slowly slinked out of the Sun’s sight. His parting words were, ‘I will never forget this insult and as long as we both live, I don’t want to see your face ever again.’ The scar of this insult lingers till this day and so the Sun and Moon are still unable to face each other for long. The Moon never regained its clear white and old Lotha folks say that to this day, when you look up at the moon, especially on a full moon night, you see it speckled with black spots from the cow dung thrown at it by the Sun. That blemish remains a permanent reminder of that ignominious day.
Illustration by Amrapali
Source: ‘A girl swallowed by a tree’ by Nzanmongi Jasmine Patton
