placed a small portion under one of her beautiful long
fingernails, that the Star might also have a share in the treat. On
their return, their mother, who had kept watch for them all night long
with her bright little eye, said: "Well, children, what have you brought
home for me?" Then the Sun (who was eldest) said: "I have brought
nothing home for you. I went out to enjoy myself with my friends, not to
fetch a dinner for my mother!" And the Wind said: "Neither have I
brought anything home for you, mother. You could hardly expect me to
bring a collection of good things for you, when I merely went out for my
own pleasure." But the Moon said: "Mother, fetch a plate; see what I
have brought you;" and shaking her hands, she showered down such a
choice dinner as never was seen before. Then the Star turned to the Sun,
and spoke thus: "Because you went out to amuse yourself with your
friends, and feasted and enjoyed yourself without any thought of your
mother at home, you shall be cursed. Henceforth your rays shall ever be
hot and scorching, and shall burn all that they touch. All men shall
hate you, and cover their heads when you appear"; and this is why the
sun is so hot to this day. Then she turned to the Wind, and said: "You
also, who forgot your mother in the midst of your selfish pleasures,
hear your doom. You shall always blow in the hot, dry weather, and shall
parch and shrivel all living things, and men shall detest and avoid you
from this very time"; and this is why the wind in the hot weather is
still so disagreeable. But to the Moon she said: "Daughter, because you
remembered your mother, and kept for her a share in your own enjoyment,
from henceforth you shall be ever cool, and calm, and bright. No noxious
glare shall accompany your pure rays, and men shall always call you
blessed"; and that is why the moon's light is so soft, and cool, and
beautiful even to this day.'

It is remarkable, nevertheless, that among Western peoples, at any rate,
the moon has usually been associated with the uncanny. It is an old
belief, for instance, that the moon is the abode of bad spirits; and in
the old story of the Vampire it is notable that the creature, as a last
request, begged that he might be buried where no sunlight, but only
moonlight, might fall on his grave. Witches were supposed to be able to
control the moon, as witness the remark of Prospero in The Tempest:

'His mother was a witch, and one so strong,
That could