Welcome to the Moon and Water!
MOON
Hello!
Why does the Moon show us only one face, and why does that face look so sad and whimsical? And why does the Moon wax and wane? And where does it go when we can’t see it at all?
This story will provide the answer to these questions. It will show that we know very little about the life of the planets. They are not stuck in their orbits and driven around the solar system by the power of gravity. They have a much greater freedom of action than the laws of planetary motion set down by Sir Isaac Newton.
And what do they do with this freedom? Well, that is the very heart of this story. It begins when it was the turn of our current Moon to join the Earth in its orbit around the Sun.
There are many moons in the solar system, and they don’t forever spin around just one planet. They often change places with each other; either to warm themselves closer to the Sun, or to chill out in the cool of the outer solar system.
FLOWER
No sooner had our Moon arrived than it was amazed by the spectacle created by Water on the face of the Earth. It was a beautiful picture of spiralling clouds and swirling ocean currents that created a rich colourful mix of greens, blues and dazzling whites. Only the riotous frenzy of Jupiter could match it.
When the Moon looked even closer there was beauty within beauty. As clouds rose they opened up into magnificent flowers. These flowers were the gifts being offered up by Water to the source of all life; the Sun.
The Moon saw the dance of Water across the face of the Earth and it grew obsessed.
MUSE
Then Moon then saw something very special. It was just as the light of the dawning sun touched the top of the clouds to start a new day.
Rising over a city one cloud shaped itself from the dreams of the millions of people still sleeping below. The cloud took on the shape of Beauty musing on Hope. This was the joy of Water in the life of its world.
The Moon could no longer hold back his heart. The Moon fell in love with Water. The Moon fell completely and totally in love.
MOONLIGHT
The Moon had to show this love straight away. The Moon decided to do it with all the honesty and directness he was capable of.
The Moon grew as big as his orbit would allow, puffed up his cheeks and beamed his light on to the Earth so that Water would be bathed in the glow of his passion and know the strength of his love.
Sadly, the light merely bounced off Water back into space, as it does, almost all the time.
Water didn’t notice anything at all.
GIFT
The Moon was a little confused but not downhearted. He decided he had just gone about things the wrong way.
He decided he would declare his love with a gift. Suddenly he was taken by a clever idea. What could please Water more than a bubble bath!
Excited by the idea, the Moon saw a bottle full of soothing oils and sent it to where the lighthouse on the land showed where the rocks in the sea were the sharpest. The bottle duly broke open to offer up the gift to Water.
Straight away Water became deeply angry.
STORM
Maddened by the oil polluting its surface and suddenly aware of the clumsy attentions of the Moon, Water grew into an intense rage. Water boiled up thunder clouds and brewed up a huge storm that blew the oil off its surface along with the light of the Moon.
Once Water was finished she stared in cold anger at the Moon.
The Moon was shocked. All confidence drained from him. He was speechless. There was nothing he could say even if he knew how it could be said. No words could bridge the gulf that existed at that moment between the love that he felt and the anger of Water.
MARS
Before he was overtaken by a feeling of complete helplessness, the Moon had another idea; he could call on his friends to help him. They could explain what he had meant, beg for forgiveness, and allow him the chance to start again.
The Moon called on Mars to visit Water and present his case. Mars was only too happy to try. Mars was completely confident of himself and his importance. Water would certainly take notice of what he had to say.
Mars made his approach as the ambassador of the Moon. Sadly, Mars didn’t realise how much his self-importance had made him fat, lazy and blundering. As a result Mars’s angle of entry was completely wrong and late in the night he crashed into a building site in Whitehall.
Mars grew deep red with embarrassment (a colour that he has kept to this day as you’d expect from the red planet), and after much effort freed himself and ran home.
Water had not noticed anything at all.
JUPITER
The Moon, growing desperate, turned to Jupiter to speak on his behalf. Laid back Jupiter was happy to have a go. It would give him a well earned break from the crazy mingling of the many colours that swirled about on its surface.
Jupiter set off on its mission, but Jupiter had for far too long been stoned by being Jupiter. Above all Jupiter was a gas!
Jupiter landed and quickly dissolved into the very rock of Earth itself.
However, Jupiter was pleased by the view. It was no longer of himself, but of the machines of Man. Wow! Jupiter became obsessed by museums and their lifeless exhibits. The bright lights in his head went away and he felt calm.
Jupiter could rest and enjoy himself for once, and as he did so he was lost to the Moon and to this story.
SATURN
The Moon, growing ever more impatient that Water hadn’t even been told that he was sorry, turned to Saturn.
She agreed. Delicate and feminine, Saturn could talk on matters of the heart.
Sadly, Saturn was equally useless. Surprised by having to leave her skirts in the heavens, she jumped into the Thames to hide her nakedness. There she briefly floated, as she would if Saturn was ever kept in water.
Panicking, and with all dignity lost, she fled away.
Water almost stopped to ask the reason for the visit, but Saturn had gone. As for anybody that may have seen the spectacle, they dared not say so for fear of being laughed at as utterly mad!
METEOR
In despair the Moon decided that his only chance would to be to go himself, but in disguise. Once he had earned Water’s forgiveness he could reveal who he really was.
The Moon chose to be Mimas, the one-eyed moon that normally spins around Saturn. Leaving his light in the heavens to hide his whereabouts, the Moon journeyed to the sea.
Water was not fooled for a moment and quickly felt the arrival of the Moon. This was second time that the Moon had annoyed her. For the second time her anger rose. This time Water shaped towering thunderclouds that marched down on the Moon to strike it with lightning.
A Meteor saw the arrival of the electric anvils, but on this occasion it was only a Meteor MkVIII from the Gloster Aircraft Company passing by.
The Moon, jolted by the lightning, fled away.
IO
The Moon, frantic with unhappiness, and not knowing his disguise had failed him, decided to have one more go. This time he chose to be Io.
Io normally baths itself in the gravity of Jupiter. This warms Io so much that volcanoes erupt all over its surface. Hence Io is sometimes known as the pizza planet, for it can be mistaken as one.
When he arrived the Moon asked the permission of Water to join her; ‘Water, I am Io, let me cool my skin in your seas so I might tell you stories that will lift your heart’.
Water, not fooled for a moment, and growing a little scornful of the Moon’s hopeless fumblings, directed the Moon to a cold sea.
‘Yes, by all means, sooth yourself. Go to the North Sea and I’ll listen to your tales’.
As soon as the Moon had eased itself into the North Sea it was surrounded by the tormented souls of all the warplanes that had crashed into its depths. Not having received any attention for a generation, the fighters seized on the chance to give voice to their death-throes: ‘Charlie, bail-out…Achtung Spitfire!….Bogies at eleven o’clock’. At the same time the miserable lumbering bombers droned a hum of despair.
The Moon, suddenly aware of how silly he had become, duly left in a hurry.
By this time Water had had enough. Water, by the rights granted to it as a life force, invoked the Great Arbitrator to rule on the actions of the Moon.
RABBIT
The role of the Great Arbitrator is to maintain the Celestial Balance. His power, as suits his office, is arbitrary, and his decisions are final, and as such, beyond appeal. He is also completely unknowable.
The Moon grew horrified and cold with fear. What had he done? If Water’s call for the Great Arbitrator was justified, then the Moon had messed up the Celestial Balance. Worse, the Great Arbitrator could decide to protect the Celestial Balance in ways that could only be imagined; ways that could even destroy what he wanted to love.
That day, as the Moon slept, his imagination ran riot with terrible dreams. The Great Arbitrator appeared as a giant rabbit that picked up Water and passed her to the Cosmic Executioner for throwing into the Vortex of Oblivion.
The Moon woke up in a state of shock. How could the Great Arbitrator be a rabbit? Was the Great Arbitrator that unknowable, or was the Moon off his trolley?
CHURCH
In the evening the Moon and Water gathered at the agreed place to hear the decision of the Great Arbitrator. It was one of the many temples that Man had built to the Majestic Facilitator, (another of the High Cosmic Office Holders, but one that has no role in this story). The Moon settled in the dome, whilst Water took on a shape that expressed her femininity.
They waited. And waited. The Great Arbitrator did not turn up. The Great Arbitrator had been held up by a violent argument between a pair of Binary Stars that threatened to flare up and take out a large chunk of the Galaxy.
The silence between the Moon and Water grew strained and embarrassing. Water finally spoke. Her voice was kind but firm. The Moon felt like a scolded child.
AURORA
‘Dear Moon, please understand, I don’t know what you want but you must no longer bother me. I don’t need your attention. I am pledged to another and I will not give them up for you’.
‘Moon, your light is too weak to warm me. It is even weaker than illuminations used by Man to decorate the night. Like Aurora you belong to the lights that live only in the darkest shadows. Seek her company, not mine. Moon, your light is feeble and cold’.
HEART
In that very instant the heart of the Moon broke into a thousand pieces. The words of Water, no matter how well meant, could not have been more cruel. His heart broke like glass shattering on stone.
The live force of the Moon slumped in despair.
Numb from the rejection by Water, the Moon lost all willpower. Water gestured for him to follow and he passively did as he was told.
ST IVES
They arrived at the coast. Water carried on: ‘Moon, please understand that I am forever wedded to the Land. It is the Land that I love. It is the Land that I embrace every day and endlessly caress with a million waves. It is to the Land that I send clouds to refresh the soil’.
‘And I love the Land because it cares for our offspring. And let me show you the most amazing of our great great grand-children’.
LOVE LANE
They arrived in a city. Water filled the road. The Moon, as suited his mood, flattened himself on to a building.
‘This is a city of Man. Of our family, Man is the most valuable. They are greedy and noisy, but they are also the most creative and interesting of all our offspring. They are the final part of my great family, and I will never part from them’.
‘Dear Moon, please never upset my world again’. And with that, Water was gone.
BOMB
In the calm that followed the Moon thought that of all the annoying, irritating and self-obsessed creatures that any life force should give themselves over to, Man was possibly the least worthy. They were only fit for self-destruction.
In his misery the Moon took comfort in the idea of Man bringing chaos and ruin onto himself.
As his imagination grew more extreme in the violent destruction he dreamt up for Man, the Moon realised that he was totally lost. What had started out as an expression of love had fallen into hateful jealousy. He had messed it up completely.
His heart broken, his willpower gone, the Moon felt he could no longer hold himself in orbit. The dark Eternal Abyss called to him. If he relaxed his grip, he could pass into quiet oblivion. The Moon readied himself to let go.
EMBRACE
In that moment the Moon was gripped by a tight embrace. It was the Great Arbitrator. Not only that, it was the Great Arbitrator as a giant rabbit. The Moon believed he had died and been reborn in madness.
‘No you haven’t’, said the Great Arbitrator, ‘you can only see me as you believe me to be, and I have to say your imagination is pretty weird’.
‘Sorry’ said the Moon, ‘should I believe you to be something else?’
‘Don’t try, I dread to think what it could be. Just keep it as it is and let’s get on with the job at hand. I’ll fix a deal with Water that’ll keep both of you happy. Stay here until I call you. But remember this, you mess up the Celestial Balance once more and I’ll park you next to a barking Neutron Star for all eternity’. The Great Arbitrator left.
Shortly afterwards the Moon was called to a meeting with Water in the presence of the Great Arbitrator.
RAINBOW
Water had become the weathering on a pillar of marble. The Great Arbitrator had taken on the shape of a man; a rabbit would not have been right for the occasion. Humbled, the Moon shrank to an ornamental stone ball.
Water spoke with warmth and generosity, ‘Dear Moon, forgive me for I have been harsh. I didn’t know the strength of your feelings. I should not have mocked your light because it guides everything on this world when it passes through darkness. I cannot return your love, but I can comfort you. The Land and I would welcome your company. Please, join us in the heavens, and when your orbit allows you, come down and visit us and we will show you the warmth of our friendship.’
The Moon was instantly happy. There was nothing he could add to her understanding and his selfless love would not allow him to ask for more. What he wanted to say could be spoken later. He nodded in agreement.
Water smiled and a rainbow appeared.
RIVER
And so what we know now of the life of the Moon had come to pass.
Once a month the Moon journeys around the Earth. When the journey of the Moon puts it into shadow and it can’t be seen by Man, then the Moon comes down to visit the Land and Water.
First the Moon travels over the Land. They are friends, but the Moon cannot help but be amazed at the many states of Water on the Land; the puddles that lie in the fields, the rivers that reflect the clouds and the rainbow that greets him as he gets closer to his destination.
LAND’S END
Once the Moon has come to the end of the Land, he puts himself down in a quiet spot, and there, disguised to Man, he marvels at the boundless majesty and endless nurturing generosity of Water.
After a time, refreshed by the kindness of his hosts, the Moon returns to his orbit.
MOON
And so that is how the Moon wears the face that he does. Slightly stunned and dazed from the shock of it all, but forever staring at the object of his passion.
How long shall he remain this way? Who knows? What is the love of the Moon compared to the lifetime of a man, or even the life of Man?
WEDDING RING
But the story does not end here. Because, whilst the Moon is a gentleman in his conduct and asks for no more than Water can give, the Moon cannot hold back the strength of his love. He shows it, even if it is in breach of the agreement reached with the Great Arbitrator. It can be shown without the Great Arbitrator knowing because it is shown in complete secrecy.
It is shown when the Moon passes right between the Sun and Water. When the Sun comes back from behind the Moon, then the Moon shows his eternal love by giving to Water the Wedding Ring.
HAMMERHEAD
And what of the love of Water for her children? Every now and then Water sends thunderclouds over the cities of Man and gives her noisy great great-grand children a smack with a bolt of lightening.
But generally they are a little too preoccupied to notice.
Good-bye!
.
Hello!
Why does the Moon show us only one face, and why does that face look so sad and whimsical? And why does the Moon wax and wane? And where does it go when we can’t see it at all?
This story will provide the answer to these questions. It will show that we know very little about the life of the planets. They are not stuck in their orbits and driven around the solar system by the power of gravity. They have a much greater freedom of action than the laws of planetary motion set down by Sir Isaac Newton.
And what do they do with this freedom? Well, that is the very heart of this story. It begins when it was the turn of our current Moon to join the Earth in its orbit around the Sun.
There are many moons in the solar system, and they don’t forever spin around just one planet. They often change places with each other; either to warm themselves closer to the Sun, or to chill out in the cool of the outer solar system.
FLOWER
No sooner had our Moon arrived than it was amazed by the spectacle created by Water on the face of the Earth. It was a beautiful picture of spiralling clouds and swirling ocean currents that created a rich colourful mix of greens, blues and dazzling whites. Only the riotous frenzy of Jupiter could match it.
When the Moon looked even closer there was beauty within beauty. As clouds rose they opened up into magnificent flowers. These flowers were the gifts being offered up by Water to the source of all life; the Sun.
The Moon saw the dance of Water across the face of the Earth and it grew obsessed.
MUSE
Then Moon then saw something very special. It was just as the light of the dawning sun touched the top of the clouds to start a new day.
Rising over a city one cloud shaped itself from the dreams of the millions of people still sleeping below. The cloud took on the shape of Beauty musing on Hope. This was the joy of Water in the life of its world.
The Moon could no longer hold back his heart. The Moon fell in love with Water. The Moon fell completely and totally in love.
MOONLIGHT
The Moon had to show this love straight away. The Moon decided to do it with all the honesty and directness he was capable of.
The Moon grew as big as his orbit would allow, puffed up his cheeks and beamed his light on to the Earth so that Water would be bathed in the glow of his passion and know the strength of his love.
Sadly, the light merely bounced off Water back into space, as it does, almost all the time.
Water didn’t notice anything at all.
GIFT
The Moon was a little confused but not downhearted. He decided he had just gone about things the wrong way.
He decided he would declare his love with a gift. Suddenly he was taken by a clever idea. What could please Water more than a bubble bath!
Excited by the idea, the Moon saw a bottle full of soothing oils and sent it to where the lighthouse on the land showed where the rocks in the sea were the sharpest. The bottle duly broke open to offer up the gift to Water.
Straight away Water became deeply angry.
STORM
Maddened by the oil polluting its surface and suddenly aware of the clumsy attentions of the Moon, Water grew into an intense rage. Water boiled up thunder clouds and brewed up a huge storm that blew the oil off its surface along with the light of the Moon.
Once Water was finished she stared in cold anger at the Moon.
The Moon was shocked. All confidence drained from him. He was speechless. There was nothing he could say even if he knew how it could be said. No words could bridge the gulf that existed at that moment between the love that he felt and the anger of Water.
MARS
Before he was overtaken by a feeling of complete helplessness, the Moon had another idea; he could call on his friends to help him. They could explain what he had meant, beg for forgiveness, and allow him the chance to start again.
The Moon called on Mars to visit Water and present his case. Mars was only too happy to try. Mars was completely confident of himself and his importance. Water would certainly take notice of what he had to say.
Mars made his approach as the ambassador of the Moon. Sadly, Mars didn’t realise how much his self-importance had made him fat, lazy and blundering. As a result Mars’s angle of entry was completely wrong and late in the night he crashed into a building site in Whitehall.
Mars grew deep red with embarrassment (a colour that he has kept to this day as you’d expect from the red planet), and after much effort freed himself and ran home.
Water had not noticed anything at all.
JUPITER
The Moon, growing desperate, turned to Jupiter to speak on his behalf. Laid back Jupiter was happy to have a go. It would give him a well earned break from the crazy mingling of the many colours that swirled about on its surface.
Jupiter set off on its mission, but Jupiter had for far too long been stoned by being Jupiter. Above all Jupiter was a gas!
Jupiter landed and quickly dissolved into the very rock of Earth itself.
However, Jupiter was pleased by the view. It was no longer of himself, but of the machines of Man. Wow! Jupiter became obsessed by museums and their lifeless exhibits. The bright lights in his head went away and he felt calm.
Jupiter could rest and enjoy himself for once, and as he did so he was lost to the Moon and to this story.
SATURN
The Moon, growing ever more impatient that Water hadn’t even been told that he was sorry, turned to Saturn.
She agreed. Delicate and feminine, Saturn could talk on matters of the heart.
Sadly, Saturn was equally useless. Surprised by having to leave her skirts in the heavens, she jumped into the Thames to hide her nakedness. There she briefly floated, as she would if Saturn was ever kept in water.
Panicking, and with all dignity lost, she fled away.
Water almost stopped to ask the reason for the visit, but Saturn had gone. As for anybody that may have seen the spectacle, they dared not say so for fear of being laughed at as utterly mad!
METEOR
In despair the Moon decided that his only chance would to be to go himself, but in disguise. Once he had earned Water’s forgiveness he could reveal who he really was.
The Moon chose to be Mimas, the one-eyed moon that normally spins around Saturn. Leaving his light in the heavens to hide his whereabouts, the Moon journeyed to the sea.
Water was not fooled for a moment and quickly felt the arrival of the Moon. This was second time that the Moon had annoyed her. For the second time her anger rose. This time Water shaped towering thunderclouds that marched down on the Moon to strike it with lightning.
A Meteor saw the arrival of the electric anvils, but on this occasion it was only a Meteor MkVIII from the Gloster Aircraft Company passing by.
The Moon, jolted by the lightning, fled away.
IO
The Moon, frantic with unhappiness, and not knowing his disguise had failed him, decided to have one more go. This time he chose to be Io.
Io normally baths itself in the gravity of Jupiter. This warms Io so much that volcanoes erupt all over its surface. Hence Io is sometimes known as the pizza planet, for it can be mistaken as one.
When he arrived the Moon asked the permission of Water to join her; ‘Water, I am Io, let me cool my skin in your seas so I might tell you stories that will lift your heart’.
Water, not fooled for a moment, and growing a little scornful of the Moon’s hopeless fumblings, directed the Moon to a cold sea.
‘Yes, by all means, sooth yourself. Go to the North Sea and I’ll listen to your tales’.
As soon as the Moon had eased itself into the North Sea it was surrounded by the tormented souls of all the warplanes that had crashed into its depths. Not having received any attention for a generation, the fighters seized on the chance to give voice to their death-throes: ‘Charlie, bail-out…Achtung Spitfire!….Bogies at eleven o’clock’. At the same time the miserable lumbering bombers droned a hum of despair.
The Moon, suddenly aware of how silly he had become, duly left in a hurry.
By this time Water had had enough. Water, by the rights granted to it as a life force, invoked the Great Arbitrator to rule on the actions of the Moon.
RABBIT
The role of the Great Arbitrator is to maintain the Celestial Balance. His power, as suits his office, is arbitrary, and his decisions are final, and as such, beyond appeal. He is also completely unknowable.
The Moon grew horrified and cold with fear. What had he done? If Water’s call for the Great Arbitrator was justified, then the Moon had messed up the Celestial Balance. Worse, the Great Arbitrator could decide to protect the Celestial Balance in ways that could only be imagined; ways that could even destroy what he wanted to love.
That day, as the Moon slept, his imagination ran riot with terrible dreams. The Great Arbitrator appeared as a giant rabbit that picked up Water and passed her to the Cosmic Executioner for throwing into the Vortex of Oblivion.
The Moon woke up in a state of shock. How could the Great Arbitrator be a rabbit? Was the Great Arbitrator that unknowable, or was the Moon off his trolley?
CHURCH
In the evening the Moon and Water gathered at the agreed place to hear the decision of the Great Arbitrator. It was one of the many temples that Man had built to the Majestic Facilitator, (another of the High Cosmic Office Holders, but one that has no role in this story). The Moon settled in the dome, whilst Water took on a shape that expressed her femininity.
They waited. And waited. The Great Arbitrator did not turn up. The Great Arbitrator had been held up by a violent argument between a pair of Binary Stars that threatened to flare up and take out a large chunk of the Galaxy.
The silence between the Moon and Water grew strained and embarrassing. Water finally spoke. Her voice was kind but firm. The Moon felt like a scolded child.
AURORA
‘Dear Moon, please understand, I don’t know what you want but you must no longer bother me. I don’t need your attention. I am pledged to another and I will not give them up for you’.
‘Moon, your light is too weak to warm me. It is even weaker than illuminations used by Man to decorate the night. Like Aurora you belong to the lights that live only in the darkest shadows. Seek her company, not mine. Moon, your light is feeble and cold’.
HEART
In that very instant the heart of the Moon broke into a thousand pieces. The words of Water, no matter how well meant, could not have been more cruel. His heart broke like glass shattering on stone.
The live force of the Moon slumped in despair.
Numb from the rejection by Water, the Moon lost all willpower. Water gestured for him to follow and he passively did as he was told.
ST IVES
They arrived at the coast. Water carried on: ‘Moon, please understand that I am forever wedded to the Land. It is the Land that I love. It is the Land that I embrace every day and endlessly caress with a million waves. It is to the Land that I send clouds to refresh the soil’.
‘And I love the Land because it cares for our offspring. And let me show you the most amazing of our great great grand-children’.
LOVE LANE
They arrived in a city. Water filled the road. The Moon, as suited his mood, flattened himself on to a building.
‘This is a city of Man. Of our family, Man is the most valuable. They are greedy and noisy, but they are also the most creative and interesting of all our offspring. They are the final part of my great family, and I will never part from them’.
‘Dear Moon, please never upset my world again’. And with that, Water was gone.
BOMB
In the calm that followed the Moon thought that of all the annoying, irritating and self-obsessed creatures that any life force should give themselves over to, Man was possibly the least worthy. They were only fit for self-destruction.
In his misery the Moon took comfort in the idea of Man bringing chaos and ruin onto himself.
As his imagination grew more extreme in the violent destruction he dreamt up for Man, the Moon realised that he was totally lost. What had started out as an expression of love had fallen into hateful jealousy. He had messed it up completely.
His heart broken, his willpower gone, the Moon felt he could no longer hold himself in orbit. The dark Eternal Abyss called to him. If he relaxed his grip, he could pass into quiet oblivion. The Moon readied himself to let go.
EMBRACE
In that moment the Moon was gripped by a tight embrace. It was the Great Arbitrator. Not only that, it was the Great Arbitrator as a giant rabbit. The Moon believed he had died and been reborn in madness.
‘No you haven’t’, said the Great Arbitrator, ‘you can only see me as you believe me to be, and I have to say your imagination is pretty weird’.
‘Sorry’ said the Moon, ‘should I believe you to be something else?’
‘Don’t try, I dread to think what it could be. Just keep it as it is and let’s get on with the job at hand. I’ll fix a deal with Water that’ll keep both of you happy. Stay here until I call you. But remember this, you mess up the Celestial Balance once more and I’ll park you next to a barking Neutron Star for all eternity’. The Great Arbitrator left.
Shortly afterwards the Moon was called to a meeting with Water in the presence of the Great Arbitrator.
RAINBOW
Water had become the weathering on a pillar of marble. The Great Arbitrator had taken on the shape of a man; a rabbit would not have been right for the occasion. Humbled, the Moon shrank to an ornamental stone ball.
Water spoke with warmth and generosity, ‘Dear Moon, forgive me for I have been harsh. I didn’t know the strength of your feelings. I should not have mocked your light because it guides everything on this world when it passes through darkness. I cannot return your love, but I can comfort you. The Land and I would welcome your company. Please, join us in the heavens, and when your orbit allows you, come down and visit us and we will show you the warmth of our friendship.’
The Moon was instantly happy. There was nothing he could add to her understanding and his selfless love would not allow him to ask for more. What he wanted to say could be spoken later. He nodded in agreement.
Water smiled and a rainbow appeared.
RIVER
And so what we know now of the life of the Moon had come to pass.
Once a month the Moon journeys around the Earth. When the journey of the Moon puts it into shadow and it can’t be seen by Man, then the Moon comes down to visit the Land and Water.
First the Moon travels over the Land. They are friends, but the Moon cannot help but be amazed at the many states of Water on the Land; the puddles that lie in the fields, the rivers that reflect the clouds and the rainbow that greets him as he gets closer to his destination.
LAND’S END
Once the Moon has come to the end of the Land, he puts himself down in a quiet spot, and there, disguised to Man, he marvels at the boundless majesty and endless nurturing generosity of Water.
After a time, refreshed by the kindness of his hosts, the Moon returns to his orbit.
MOON
And so that is how the Moon wears the face that he does. Slightly stunned and dazed from the shock of it all, but forever staring at the object of his passion.
How long shall he remain this way? Who knows? What is the love of the Moon compared to the lifetime of a man, or even the life of Man?
WEDDING RING
But the story does not end here. Because, whilst the Moon is a gentleman in his conduct and asks for no more than Water can give, the Moon cannot hold back the strength of his love. He shows it, even if it is in breach of the agreement reached with the Great Arbitrator. It can be shown without the Great Arbitrator knowing because it is shown in complete secrecy.
It is shown when the Moon passes right between the Sun and Water. When the Sun comes back from behind the Moon, then the Moon shows his eternal love by giving to Water the Wedding Ring.
HAMMERHEAD
And what of the love of Water for her children? Every now and then Water sends thunderclouds over the cities of Man and gives her noisy great great-grand children a smack with a bolt of lightening.
But generally they are a little too preoccupied to notice.
Good-bye!
.
