Note 29 — FOLK-TALES AND SONGS

At the beginning of time what is now the sun was the moon, and what is now the moon was the sun. In those days when what is now the moon was the sun it was very hot, so that all the leaves and the trees in the jungle shrivelled up and died, and men suffered torments from the heat. Then what is now the sun said to the moon (which was the sun in those days), “Why do you shine so fiercely that you make all the leaves and trees in the jungle shrivel up and die, and cause men to suffer torments from the heat? You by being the sun are making men and leaves to die from heat and the world will be destroyed. Therefore from to-day I will not let you be the sun.” With these words he smeared the face of what is now the moon with cow-dung, and what is now the sun become the sun. Therefore men say that the dark marks on the moon are where the sun smeared cow-dung on its face.29