The storytellers of numerous peoples in Burma disagree about the shape of the spots on the moon. Some believe that the spots resemble the silhouette of a rabbit, others - an old man husking rice. And everyone, trying to confirm that they are right, provides various proofs of the validity of their words.
According to Lisu folk storytellers, the spots on the moon do not look like a rabbit or an old man husking rice, but like a girl sitting under a spreading tree at a spinning wheel. This is what the fox is told about this.
Once upon a time, a husband and wife lived in a house in one of the Lisu villages, located on the slope of a mountain. They had an unmarried daughter and a married son. Like other village residents, they were engaged in raising livestock and growing rice. However, neither overwork nor efforts could help them escape from poverty. The mother loved her daughter most of all. She indulged her in everything, gave her all the most delicious things. She considered her daughter-in-law, the same age as her daughter, to be ugly, lazy and cunning, and for that reason she did not like her. All the menial work fell on the daughter-in-law, however, kind and submissive, she did not contradict her mother-in-law and meekly endured her nagging.
The father of the family condemned the bad actions of his wife and constantly proved to her that all children should be loved equally. But his wife in response only scolded him and reproached him for meddling in something other than his own business.
As for the daughter and daughter-in-law, they lived in perfect harmony and loved each other like sisters. They shared all the joys and sorrows in half, helped each other in their work, and the daughter tried to smooth out the injustice of the mother as best she could.
One day, shortly before the autumn rains, when the field suffering began, the mother called her daughter and daughter-in-law to her and said:
“Here’s an equal amount of jute seeds for you, go into the field and sow them properly.” The one of you whose seeds do not germinate will be punished: she will wear old clothes all year and do all the housework.
The old woman put seeds and food in bamboo baskets and sent the girls off to the mountains. However, this time the old woman remained true to herself. She gave her daughter-in-law unsuitable seeds. First, she kept them on the fire, then cooled them in the cold, hoping that the daughter-in-law would be in the field while waiting for them to sprout, and upon returning, according to the agreement, all the household chores would fall on her shoulders. The daughter, whom her mother provided with selected seeds, will not have to wait long for germination, and she will soon return home.
The girls did not know about their mother’s insidious plans, talking animatedly, they walked towards the field. They walked and walked and in the middle of the way they began to chew the grains that were given to them for sowing out of boredom.
“These seeds have some strange taste,” said the daughter-in-law. - Try it!
And she handed her sister-in-law a few grains. The sister-in-law was surprised:
- How delicious! Let's change.
When the girls arrived on the field, they immediately got to work, and each of them did everything to the best of their ability.
Several days passed, and the old woman appeared on the field to check how her plan had succeeded. She looked and gasped: her daughter-in-law’s plot was completely covered with juicy, elastic shoots of jute, and on her daughter’s plot only lush grass grew. "How so? - the mother was perplexed. “I seemed to have done everything properly, but the trouble fell not on my stupid daughter-in-law, but on my beloved daughter.” She sighed and sighed, but there was nothing to do, she went home.
And the daughter-in-law, having weeded her plot, returned after her. Only the daughter remained in the field, ordering her daughter-in-law to tell her mother that she would return only when shoots appeared from her seeds.
Meanwhile, nothing changed on her daughter’s plot, and when she ran out of food, she was embarrassed to go home and began to get food for herself in the forest. Here he will pick edible leaves, there – sweet fruits and berries, and even find bird eggs. Many days passed, and then one day a bear wandered into her. Only the bear did not offend the girl, but began to take care of her, bringing her fruits, plant roots, and honey. The girl was touched by his concern, and she married the bear. They went into the forest, where the bear had a hut, and began to live there.
Meanwhile, a lot of time passed, and the mother was completely exhausted from anxiety. Again she went into the field to see how her daughter was living, but she did not find anyone there. The mother walked around all the surroundings, examined the forest and mountains - her daughter was nowhere to be found. The mother began to sob, thought that her daughter had been dragged away by a tiger, and returned home empty-handed.
Autumn passed, and the daughter, the bear’s wife, wanted to visit her parents with her husband.
“We have a custom,” she told the bear, “after the wedding, to introduce your husband to yours.” family. Let's go to my parents, ask for their blessing, and then return to the forest again.
The bear agreed. One day they got ready and hit the road. Arriving home, the girl told her parents about everything that had happened to her. Seeing his son-in-law-bear, the father and brother left upset, the daughter-in-law burst into tears, and the mother decided to save her daughter at all costs - to kill the bear.
The mother went to the barn to feed the pigs, and lo and behold, her son-in-law, the bear, was there, eating with the pigs from the same trough. The mother grabbed a log lying nearby and hit the bear in the head with it. However, a bear is not even an eyelid. “Sorry,” the mother was alarmed, “I hit you by accident.” I wanted to drive away the pig, but I made a mistake.
“Nothing, nothing,” the bear reassured her, “sticks, it’s good that you didn’t touch my nose.”
The old woman remembered these words and the next time she hit the bear on the nose with a log.
“What a disaster, what a disaster,” the old woman pretended to lament. “I wanted to hit the pig, but I hit the bear!”
Her daughter came running to her screams and, seeing her husband’s corpse, burst into tears.
“Don’t cry, daughter,” her mother consoled her. - I'll find you another husband.
However, the daughter was inconsolable: she knew her evil mother well and immediately realized that she had deliberately killed the bear.
Many, many days passed, and the young widow still grieved. She remembered her life with her husband in the hut, his kindness and affection, and abundant tears flowed from her eyes. Then the mother decided to distract her daughter: she placed a loom on a sloping mountain slope under a spreading tree, gave her daughter yarn and asked her to weave a blanket.
The daughter did not dare to contradict her mother, she sat down at the spinning wheel and began to weave.
The year was dry and hot. The streams and lakes dried up, and all the forest animals came to drink water from the spring, which was located not far from the place where the bear's widow was spinning. The stars from the sky also looked here. And one day even the sun decided to drink some water from the spring, but it was so big that it could not squeeze through the narrow gorge.
A young widow saw him and felt sorry for the sun.
“You, sunshine, bend down and go sideways to the spring,” she advised.
The sun thanked her, listened to her advice and, having drunk plenty of spring water, returned to heaven.
And seven days later the moon appeared in the gorge. Like the sun, the moon did not fit into the gorge. The young widow came to her aid, and the grateful moon said:
“You are a kind and compassionate girl and you save the lives of many.” You deserve to live in the best of all worlds. Come with me to heaven.
“Here in the shade of a tree I feel quiet and at peace.” Let me stay here, moon,” the girl asked.
“I haven’t seen all the beautiful places on earth, but I’m sure it’s much better on the moon.” Come with me - you won't regret it!
“If you insist so,” the young widow answered obediently, “I will follow you.” Yes, I just ask you, let me take the spinning wheel and this tree with me.
The moon put the spinning wheel and the tree in the bag, took the young widow in her arms and floated into the sky.
That is why Lisu folk storytellers believe that the spots on the moon are a spreading tree and a girl sitting under it at a spinning wheel.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru