The Man in the Moon
THERE WAS ONCE a young man called Sandaranbulan who loved all animals and living things. One day, as he was walking along he found a swallow that had fallen at the edge of the road. It hopped about, twittering sadly. Pitying the poor bird, Sandaranbulan carefully picked it up and carried it home. He nursed it with tender care, and after a few days the leg was sound again. To show its gratitued the swallow made a bow to Sandaranbulan and flew off, but shortly it came back with a yellow mantisan (pumpkin) seed in its back, which it presented ot its benefactor. The boy planted the seed in the garden. Day by day the plant grew stronger and stronger. Hidden among the leaves grew and enormous yellow pumpkin. When at last it was ripe, Sandaranbulan gathered the fruit and split it open. To his great surprise, a stream of shining gold and glittering silver came flowing out. The tale of this miraculous occurrence quickly spread throughout the village, and everyone praised the kindhearted young man. But there was a very mean child in the neighbourhood who nearly became ill with envy. His mouth watered at the tale of such riches. He thought he would also rear a little swallow and get the same reward. It would be easy money, he pondered. So he knocked down a swallow that was sitting on the roof, and cared for it carefully as Sandaranbulan had done. When the bird was cured it relly did bring him a mantisan seed, which he planted in an open space in front of the guest house. How excited he was when a yellow pumpkin grew underneath the leaves! But on opening it, he received a terrible shock. Out stepped a well-dressed old man, with a bill in his left hand, and a pen and a box of red ink in his right. He wore a pleasant, smiling expression, and said quietly to the boy, "You wicked child! How could you be so covetous! But since you worship gold so much, you can come along with me." Then he wrote something in the book, took the boy by the hand, and climbed onto the runners of the pumpkin, which suddenly shot up like a ladder into the sky for the two people to climb on. Beneath them the runners dried up as they passed, so that one could go up but not down. Before long they arrived at the Place of Boundless Gold in the moon. The roads were made of shimmering jade set in silver and the palaces were gleaming gold and agates. Everything was so bright that one could not keep one's eys open, and was vast that one could not see any end. Still more wonderful were the enchanting fairies, who danced to the accompaniment of heavenly music. Their ineffable beauty bewitched the eyes and ears of the boy, woh forgot where he was. After he had look around for a while, he asked the old man to take him back again. "You want to return, do you?" asked the old man. "Very well. If you can cut down this cinnamon tree here, you can return home; otherwise you cannot." Bringing a silver axe, he haded it ot the boy. In great excitement the boy rushed off with the axe to look at the cinnamon tree, which was made of solid gold with brances festooned with precious stones and agates. He thought to himslf, "If I cut down this tree I can take it home, and I won't need to work for the rest of my life." He raised his axe and cut a large notch in the trunk, but as he did so he felt a sharp pain in his shoulders. Looking around he saw that he had been attacked by a golden eagle. In a range he drove it away, but when he looked at the tree there was no sign of the blow he had given it. He gave it another slash, and again the eagle struck him. He drove it away again, and once more the cut he had made was not to be seen. And so it went on and on. He remains there to this day, because the tree never receives more than a single cut before it grows back together again. It you look up at the moon on a clear night, you can dimly see many trees and people; they are the ones that were in our story of the naughty boy in the Palace of Boundless Gold.
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