Lesson:
The Moon in Folklore
This lesson is based on a New Guinean fable. Read this account of the moon.
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1. How would you explain a Lunar Eclipse based on this account of the moon?
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2. Write a fable explaining a Lunar Eclipse based on this story.
(figure available in print form)
One day a man from my village had a garden. Every day he used to go and burn the dried leaves, branches, and woods in his garden. After burning this rubbish he swept all of them away. Then he started to grow some food like taros, corn, sugarcane, pawpaw, greens and some other things too. When all the food stuffs in his garden were ripe he started to collect them. He never went home early in the afternoon. He always used to stay in the garden after the sun had gone down. This he did every day. He went home at night when all people were sleeping. When he arrived at the garden he would sit down and have a rest. Sometimes he went there only for a visit to the garden.
One day, when he went to the garden he saw that the greens were stolen. So that night he did not go home. He slept in the garden and watched all night. Then in the middle of the night he saw the moon shining with very bright skin. It was stealing his green vegetables. He got very angry and speared the moon. The moon fell on the ground. The man took the moon home and cooked and ate the moon. He gave half of the moon to the old woman. She didn’t eat her share. The moon flew into the sky. So that is why you can see the half moon in the sky.
