THE MAN IN THE MOON By ROSE FYLEMAN

The Man in the Moon was very busy repainting the outside of his house.

It was a fine clear night, and of course it’s always pretty light up there anyway. He had a ladder and a pail of luminous paint. The paint was bright yellow, and he put it on thick. While he painted he sang, very loudly and cheerfully. This was the song he sang:

Oh, I am the Man in the Moon;

Won’t you visit me soon?

Should you be taking a trip to the stars

Please drop in on the way to Mars,

Morning or afternoon.

I am the Man in the Moon;

Put on your seven-league shoon.

The road is plain and you can’t go wrong;

Or if you think it would take too long,

Why not have a balloon?

52I am the Man in the Moon

(How do you like my tune?)

I’ll give you a platter of good moon-cheese

Ripe and rich and as much as you please,

Crystal fruit from my orchard trees,

And silver honey from silver bees

To eat with an ivory spoon.

Presently Diana, his wife, came to the door.

“Mind the paint, Di,” said the Man in the Moon.

“That’s just what I do mind,” said his wife. “They’re threatening to turn us out of the house because we can’t pay the rent, and you can find nothing better to do than to waste your time over an unnecessary job like that. And all the children wanting new shoes too! It’s scandalous. I’m not so young as I was, else I’ve half a mind to buckle-to myself and go out a-hunting again.”

“I’d love to see you,” said the Man in the Moon. “I’d just love it. It would seem like old times. My dear, you’d create an enormous sensation.”

“And that’s just like your foolishness again,” said his wife. “I couldn’t even so much as get into the things, let alone run about in ’em. No, I’ve got some sense, if you haven’t. As to painting the house, I can’t imagine what you’re doing it for.”

“My dear,” said the Man in the Moon (whose name by the way is Tobias), “if you’ll wait a minute I’ll come down and tell you.”

He climbed down the ladder and sat down on a low cloudbank in front of the house.

53“When I’ve finished,” he said, “it’ll look so beautiful that everyone will notice. ‘Oh, do look at the moon,’ they’ll say. ‘Isn’t it lovely?’ And then I shall paint a big sign and put it on the roof. And I shall write on it: ‘Cheese for Sale.’ You know, Diana, there’s no end to the cheese. The cellar’s one solid mass, and we could dig some out of the walls. They’re very thick. And everyone will rush to buy cheese. It’ll become quite the rage. All the sky people will come, and I shouldn’t wonder if the earth people came, too, before long. It will be the thing to do. We shall make our fortunes in a couple of months.”

“And who’s going to pay the rent meanwhile?” said his wife. “The collector’s coming to-morrow.”

The Man in the Moon looked a little crestfallen. “Oh, something’ll turn up,” he said. “We’ll put him off for a few days. Give him a pound of cheese.”

“He’s had pounds and pounds already,” said his wife. “That’s no use.” And she went in and slammed the door so hard that it began to rain a little.

The Man in the Moon finished the first coat of paint. Then he went to have a look at the tide-ropes in order to see whether they were running out properly, and after that he sat down on the doorstep and lighted his pipe, peering about to see whether the children were coming in.

His wife came to the window.

“Time those youngsters were in, isn’t it?” said the Man in the Moon.

“They’re all safe in bed,” she said. “All except Seven; she’s not back yet. She ought to be home. It’ll soon be dawn. Just like you, Tobias, not to see them come in.” 54Which was hardly fair, for the Moonbeams had all come in the back way, and they’re the quietest little things imaginable.

Held up a glittering string of beads.

55Five minutes later Seven came softly slipping round the edge of the house.

“Hullo, Daddy,” she said.

“Hullo, Seven,” said her father, and made room for her on the step beside him, for of all his ninety-nine daughters she is the favourite.

“I’ve had a lovely night,” she said. “And look what I’ve found.”

She held up a glittering string of beads. “It was lying at the bottom of a deep, deep well. There was a big frog in the well and when I danced for him he fetched it out for me. Isn’t it pretty?”

The Man in the Moon took it in his hands. “It is pretty,” he said. And he turned it about in his fingers. One of the beads slipped off the thread. He threw it up into the air and caught it. It glittered wonderfully in the pale light.

Seven clapped her hands.

“Let’s play at marbles with them in the yard,” said the Man in the Moon.

But Seven was afraid her mother would see them from the house and send her to bed.

“Then let’s throw them at the stars,” said her father. “It would be such fun to hit one, and they’ll look so jolly flying through the sky.”

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I danced for him.

57Seven clapped her hands again. “Oh, yes, Daddy,” she cried.

But her mother heard her and put her head out of the window again.

“Come to bed at once,” she said, and she came bustling down the stairs. But when she caught sight of the necklace lying on the step in a shining heap, she became intensely excited.

“Where did that come from?” she asked.

“I found it at the bottom of a well on earth,” said Seven. “Isn’t it pretty?”

“Well, I never ... I declare ... of all the extraordinary things ...” gasped out her mother. “Give them to me, give them to me. For goodness’ sake take care none of them get lost.” She gathered up the beads in her apron and rushed indoors, but was out again in a moment, brandishing the evening paper in her free hand. “Listen to this,” she said:

Sensation at Court.

Fairy Queen loses her State

Necklace.

Substantial Reward to

Finder.

And she showed them the great black head-lines in the Fairy Mail.

58“Do you really think it’s the Queen’s necklace?” said the Man in the Moon, who had been staring at her open-mouthed.

“Of course it is,” said his wife rather snappishly. “Anybody could see with half an eye that that’s no ordinary piece of jewelry. I shall telephone to the Court immediately. What a lucky thing that Seven found it! I wonder how it came there. I daresay the Queen dropped it. They say she’s dreadfully careless about her things.” She hurried away into the house, and they could presently hear her trying to get through to the Fairy Queen. Seven and her father sat looking at one another rather guiltily. “What a good thing we didn’t throw them away,” whispered the Man in the Moon. “Don’t tell your mother.”

By this time all the other Moonbeams were thoroughly aroused. They put their shining flaxen heads out of the windows.

“Come up, Seven,” they said. “Have you heard? We’re all to have new slippers. And Mother’s promised to take us for a picnic to the Milky Way to-morrow. Come up and tell us all about the necklace.”

Dear me! What a state of excitement they were all 59in! The Man in the Moon very nearly forgot to pull in the tides, and that would have been a catastrophe indeed.

I know you will be pleased to hear that it did turn out to be the Fairy Queen’s necklace, and the reward was an exceedingly handsome one, so that the children got not only new slippers but a new Sunday frock apiece. There was enough over besides to pay the rent for a year, and even something to put by for a rainy day.

But the Man in the Moon hasn’t given up his wonderful plan of selling cheese. I heard the other day that he was very busy painting his sign. So look out for it, won’t you?

CHEESE FOR SALE.

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