“The Buried Moon.” Edmund Dulac's Fairy Book: Fairy Tales of the Allied Nations, Edmund Dulac, New York: G.H Doran, 1916, pp. 7-14.

Tale Summary

On days that the moon shone bright, people were very thankful for her, as they could easily find their way home at night through the treacherous bogs of Carland. On nights when she was dim or gone completely, travelers could not find their way and evil creatures came out. She was grieved to learn this, and so at the end of the month she wrapped herself in a black hooded cloak and descended to earth to see how matters stood. She was frightened and fell, and became caught in the tendrils she grabbed to keep her footing. Cries of despair reached her and got closer and closer, until she realized it was a poor lost man who would soon drown. She fought to get free and cast off her hood in the process so that the man was able to safely make his way out of the bog and hurry home. She fought the tangles again so hard that her hood again fell on her face and the darkness returned. All the evil creatures of the bog came out and surrounded her, wanting revenge on the bright thing that for so many nights kept them at bay. They quarreled with each other until dawn on how to best hurt her, and as they began to scatter for fear of the light, they buried the moon in the mud beneath the water of the bog and weighed her down with a stone. A witch called two will-o’-the-wisps to watch and make sure she did not escape. In the following days, the people of the village grew more and more concerned as the moon did not show, and some even went to the Wise Woman of the Mill for advice, but she did not know. In an inn on the other side of the marshes, one man suddenly had an epiphany and told his barmates about the night he almost drowned but a bright light had saved him. They went to the Wise Woman with this news, but she still was not able to foresee anything, and so she instructed each of them to put a stone in their mouth and to carry a twig of witch-hazel into the marshes to find her. She told them to be silent, and that she would be in a coffin with a cross and candle on it. The men set out that night and were plagued the entire journey by vile things grabbing at them, but did find the coffin. They stopped to silently pray before opening the lid, and saw the most beautiful girl in the world shoot into the sky to light up the world. The moon thanked them for saving her, and sent all of the evil creatures back to their lairs.