MOONSHINE.

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 17982, 29 March 1930, Page 4 (Supplement)

MOONSHINE.

lichen rain lashed heavily against the window-panes', and swish-swish-ed in hot haste through the trees, Lucy would chuckle softly, and clap her hands in glee. She thought that the drops of rain were really the motor cars of the fairy folk, and, if only wo had the right kind of eyes, we should see, riding in them, dainty little winged ladles, or green-coated elves, or brown-suited gnomes. From her bed-room window she could see the gray-blue waters of the Clyde, and often when the hustling, bustling wind scurried hither and thither she could see whiite-cappcd waves dotted over the river’s surface, and Lucy believed that the fishes and mermaids were swimming so near the top that they “splashed” with their tails. Lucy, jn fact, explained everything in her own fanciful way. There was only one riddle for which she had no answer, one object which she thought utterly strange and inexplicable—the moon!

TRc moon seemed to Lucy to have no place in the sky at all. It xvas high above the chimney tops, and yet quite away from the pretty winkyblinky stars. It was so shiny, so hardlooking, so still, so large compared with the lovely little stars. Somehow

or other, it seemed to belong neither to the earlli nor to the sky. It was not very often that Lucy saw the moon, for early bedtime and quickly to sleep is the rule with five-year-olds, but one night, being very excited because she was to be taken to see the circus on the following day, Lucy lay awake long enough to see the moon looking in at her window.

She was wondering very much what exactly the moon could be. when suddenly she found herself climbing up a moonbeam, as if on a moving staircase. On arriving at the moon, she was ■met by a tall smiling gentleman, dressed in white from head to foot. “I'm the Man in the Moon,” said he, opening a door in his big silver hall of a moon. “Just step in, if you please.” Lucy did step in, and what was her astonishment to see inside the moon a huge shoe! The curious thing about this shoo, as well as its size, was that it had doors and windows. At the front door of the shoe was standing a round-faced, smiling, motherly lady, decked in a white dust cap and apron. “How do you do, my dear,” said the lady. “I think you’ve met me before. I’m the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe.”

“And where are the children?” cried Lucy, all excitement. “It’s a long story,” replied the Man In the Moon. “It all happened like this. A long time ago the moon was right up beside the stars, and wasn’t nearly so large as it is now. I stayed in it all by myself, and I had such a lot of work to do. I had to light up the stars at night and put them out in the morning. I had to give them a careful rub with polish every second day lo make sure of their being really bright and shining. It took a long, long time, for there are a very great many to go round.

“At the same time the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe had so many children she didn’t know what to do. She loved them all, hut there were too many for one person,to manage. “I was growing thin and pale with worry, and so was the Old Woman. At length the Fairy Queen hit upon a splendid plan. After the Old Woman had whipped all her children soundly and sent them to bed a band of gnomes and elves came and, by magic, lifted up tlie Shoe with all the children and the Old Woman in it.

“They carried it up, and up, till they could carry it no further. Then they pulled the moon down to meet it, enlarged the moon to the right size, and popped the shoe inside!

“Now the children each take a small share of my duties, and that leaves

the Olcl Woman free to make the beds, tidy the Shoe, and make our meals ready for our return from work. Wasn’t it clever of the Fairy Queen to think of that?”

“It just was!” said Lucy, and the next thing she knew she was sitting up in bed, kissing mummy good morning.”