Grimm's Household Tales

In days gone by there was a land where the nights were always dark, and the sky spread over it like a black cloth, for there the moon never rose, and no star shone in the gloom. At the creation of the world, the light at night had been sufficient. Three young fellows once left this country on a traveling expedition and arrived in another kingdom, where, in the evening, when the sun had disappeared behind the mountains, a shining globe was placed on an oak tree and shed a soft light far and wide. By means of this, everything could be seen and distinguished very well, even though it was not as brilliant as the sun. The travelers stopped and asked a countryman who was driving past with his cart what kind of light that was. “That is the moon,” he answered. “Our mayor bought it for three thalers and fastened it to the oak tree. He has to pour oil into it daily and keep it clean, so that it will always burn clearly. He receives a thaler a week from us for doing it.”

When the countryman had driven away, one of them said, “We could make some use of this lamp. We have an oak tree at home that is just as big as this one, and we could hang it on that. What a pleasure it would be not to have to grope about at night in the darkness!” “I’ll tell you what we’ll do,” said the second. “We will fetch a cart and horses and carry away the moon. The people here can buy themselves another.” “I’m a good climber,” said the third. “I will bring it down.” The fourth brought a cart and horses, and the third climbed the tree, bored a hole in the moon, passed a rope through it, and let it down. When the shining ball lay in the cart, they covered it with a cloth so that no one would notice the theft. They conveyed it safely into their own country and placed it on a high oak. Old and young rejoiced when the new lamp let its light shine over the whole land, and bedrooms and living rooms were filled with it. The dwarfs came out of their caves in the rocks, and the tiny elves in their little red coats danced in rings on the meadows.

The four took care that the moon was provided with oil, cleaned the wick, and received their weekly thaler. But they became old men, and when one of them grew ill and saw that he was about to die, he decreed that one quarter of the moon should, as his property, be laid in the grave with him. When he died, the mayor climbed up the tree and cut off a quarter with the hedge shears, and this was placed in his coffin. The light of the moon decreased, but not yet visibly. When the second died, the second quarter was buried with him, and the light diminished. It grew weaker still after the death of the third, who likewise took his part of it away with him; and when the fourth was borne to his grave, the old state of darkness began again, and whenever the people went out at night without their lanterns, they knocked their heads together.

When, however, the pieces of the moon had joined together again in the world below, where darkness had always prevailed, it happened that the dead became restless and awoke from their sleep. They were astonished when they were able to see again; the moonlight was quite sufficient for them, for their eyes had become so weak that they could not have borne the brilliance of the sun. They rose up and were merry and fell back into their former ways of living. Some of them went to the play and to dance; others hastened to the taverns, where they asked for wine, got drunk, brawled, quarreled, and at last took up cudgels and thrashed each other. The noise grew louder and louder and at last reached even to heaven.

Saint Peter, who guards the gate of heaven, thought the lower world had broken out in revolt and gathered together the heavenly troops, which are to drive back the Evil One when he and his associates storm the abode of the blessed. As these, however, did not come, he got on his horse and rode through the gate of heaven, down into the world below. There he reduced the dead to subjection, ordered them to lie down in their graves again, took the moon away with him, and hung it up in heaven.