The old man in the moon (Story for children)

It was a full moon night. So, the night was bright with moonlight. The sky looked very beautiful with twinkling stars.

Since it was a hot summer night, the room was filled with hot air. The ceiling fan was only circulating the hot air and generating more heat inside the room.

Baba and Mama were on the porch where cool wind was sparsely blowing. Bitu uncle had arrived the same evening from Letang. All three were enjoying their talk. Prakriti and Pratik also turned off their favorite cartoon show on television and came out to enjoy the cool talk of their elders.

Prakriti suddenly got a question in her mind while playing with her brother.

“Can you tell me, Pratik, what that black spot in the moon is?”

Pratik stopped playing to stare at the moon. After a while, he answered: “That’s……Er……that’s………..Sorry, I don’t know.” He gave up easily.

“Idiot! You don’t know even that very simple fact?”

Prakriti seemed happy to know something that her younger brother didn’t know. Anyway, it is always fruitful to know more about something that somebody else doesn’t, she thought.

“People say that is a very big tree, bigger than any on our earth, under which a lonely old man is seen sitting and mourning.”

“Why?”, Pratik was surprised, “How can he sit alone and mourn there?”

“It is the kind of punishment he’s got from the God for his crimes on earth. He has to mourn under the tree every full moon night”, Prakriti explained to Pratik, “Anyone who can see the old man stand up and move away can be a lucky person in his life.” Pratik became curious. He was interested in the idea of becoming a lucky person.

They got badly startled at Bitu uncle’s sudden guffaw. They had been eavesdropped. They realized something had gone wrong in their conversation. So, they blushed.

But Bitu uncle did not chide or mock at them. Instead, he beckoned them both to come near to him. Having them sit on his lap, he pointed to the moon and said, “That’s not a tree and an old man under it.”

Prakriti was first to ask him, “Then, what’s it?”

“There are many big ditches on the surface of the moon. They are called ‘craters’. Some of them are very wide and deep, but they don’t have water. Therefore, when sunlight falls on them they make shades. We see them from here as black spots”.

Though it was a bit long, Bitu uncle’s explanation was interesting. They knew he studied science in college. Prakriti and Pratik nodded their heads in agreement. Then, Bitu uncle resumed his conversation with their Mama and Baba again. They wished they knew as much as their uncle.  

First published in Nepali in Kopila (Kantipur Publications) on 26th December 2003.