A
A
I
\t one time, according to Sir
GeorgeH. Darwin, the Moon was very close to the Earth. Then
the tides gradually puslrcdher far away: the tides that the Moon
hersell causesin the Earth's waters, where the Earth slowly
losesenergy.
How well I know!-old Qfwfq cried,-1h" rest of you can't
remember,but I can. We had her on top of us all the time, that
enorrnousMoon: when she was full-nights as bright as day,
but with a butter-colored light-it looked as if she were going
to crush us; when she was new, she rolled around the sky like
a black umbrella blown by the wind; and when she was waxing,
she came forward with her horns so low she seemedabout to
stick into the peak of a promontory and get caught there. But
the whole businessof the Moon's phasesworked in a different
way then: becausethe distancesfrom the Sun were di
and the orbits, and the angle of something or other, I forget
what; as for eclipses,with Earth and Moon stuck togetherthe
way they were, why, we had eclipsesevery minute: naturally,
thosetwo big monstersmanagedto put each other in the shade
constantly,first one, then the other.
Orbit? Oh, elliptical, of course: for a while it would huddle
against us and then it would take flight for a while. The tides,
when the Moon swung closer, rose so high nobody could hold
them back. There were nights when the Moon was full and
very, very low, and the tide was so high that the Moon missed
a ducking in the sea by a hair's-breadth;well, let's say a few 1.1
yards anyway.Climb up on the Moon? Of coursewe did. All lrr
you had to do was row out to it in a boat and, when you were J
underneath,prop a ladderagainsther and scrambleup.
The spot where the Moon was lowest, as she went by, was
oft the Zinc Cliffs. We used to go out with those little rowboats
theyhadin thosedays,roundandflat, madeof cork. Theyheld
quite a few of us: me, CaptainVhd Vhd, his wife, my deaf
cousin,and sometimeslittle Xthlx-she was twelveor so at
that time. On thosenightstie waterwasvery calm, so silvery
it lookedlike mercury,and the fish in it, violet-colored,
unable
to resisttle Moon'sattraction,roseto the surface,all of them,
and so did the octopusesand the saffronmedusas.
There was
alwaysa flight of tiny creatures-little crabs,squid,and even
someweeds,light and filmy, and coralplants-that brokefrom
tle seaand endedup on the Moon, hangingdown from that
lime-whiteceiling,or elsethey stayedin midair, a phosphorescentswarmwe had to drive off, wavingbananaleavesat them.
This is how we did the job: in the boatwe had a ladder:one
of us held it, anotherclimbedto the top, and a third, at the
oars,rowed until we were right under the Moon; that's why
there had to be so many of us (I only mentionedthe main
ones).The manat the top of theladder,asthe boatapproached
the Moon, would becomescaredand start shouting:"Stop!
Stop!I'm goingto bangmy head!"That wasthe impression
you
you,
had, seeingher on top of
immense,and all rough with
sharpspikesand jagged,saw-toothedges.It may be different
now, but then the Moon, or ratherthe bottom,the underbelly
of theMoon,thepart that passedclosestto theEarth andalmost
scrapedit, wascoveredwith a crustof sharpscales.It had come
to resemblethe belly of a fish, and the smelltoo, as I recall,if
not downrightfishy,wasfaintly similar,like smokedsalmon.
fn reality,from the top of the ladder,standingerecton the
last rung,you couldjust touchthe Moon if you held your arms
up. We had taken the measurements
carefully (we didn't yet
suspectthat shewasmovingawayfrom us); the only thing you
had to be very carefulaboutwas whereyou put your hands.
I alwayschosea scalethat seemedfast (we climbedup in
groupsof five or six at a time), then I would cling first with
onehand,thenwith both,and immediatelyI would feel ladder
and boat drifting awayfrom belowme, and the motion of the
Moon would tear me from the Earth's attraction.Yes, the
Moon was so strongthat shepulled you up; you realizedthis
other:you ha{ to swing
dremomentyou passedfrom oneto the
grabbingtt'e scales'
u nitJ of somersault'
;;;;;ily,'*itn
your feet wereon the
throwingyour legsoutt Vouthead'until
the Earth' you looked as { VO11
Moon'ssurface.s."'liot
down' but for y*i it Y:.: I
werehangingthere with your head
# i#;ift;
position,
thenormal
ilt"s wasthaiwnenvou [ )
you' glistening'with *\
raisedyour eyesyorr-'u* ttre seaabove
like a bunchof
hanging
the boat and the otrt"tt uptiae down,
srapesfrom the vine'
:ial talentfor making
"- ii4; cousin,theDeafone, showeda spec
the
d:3;;;:"ilJil*v
asthevtouched
hands'.u'
:o?o.
ft:P th"
first 1o jump
the
Yp
lunar surface(he **'a*uyt
sensitive'Theyfound'immeand
deit
i"ia.tl, t"aaentytttant
himseltup; in fact-just the
diatelythe spotwf,.," t'" tould hoist
him stick to the
pressureof his palmstltt"a enoughto make
toI eventhoughtr sawthe Moon come
il;;il";t;;t.bnce
ward him, ashe held out his hands'
back down to Earth' an
He was iust as O"*L"* in coming
it consistedin jumping'as
operationstill moreaimtufl For us'
(seenfrom the Moon'
;iil-;; we could, out "*t upraised
it lookedmorelike a dive'
that is, because,.tJirot tftt Buttn
armsat our sides)'like jumping
-i"
or like swimmingdownwards'
only now we were without
up from the Earth otfttt words'
tht" *u' nothingto prop it ugttn1::i.*:
the ladder,because
his arrnsout' my cousn
fti""t. n"t insteadof jumpingwith.
his head down as if for a
bent toward o, r"ro"o", *tri..,
leap' pushingwith his hands' From
trr*o *uat
somersault,
"
ft-" air as if he were sup
li.-L"", we watchedhim, eieci io
weretossingit' striking
portingthe Moon's"no-*iout ball and
camewithin reach'we
it with his palms;tf"n, *nto his-legs
trisanklesandpull him downon board'
;;;;fi";rau
world we went up on the
Now, you wiff a't me what in the
**ito-coltect ifre mittrl
Moon for; I'll explainit to you' Wt
^
3i,x".r?:*:i
nl;:l'*LTjH-f;
$j\b
:t* :"'j,',:tr
of variousbodies
scaleand tfr" o."t, ift'ough the fermentation flown up from i
l'
whichhad
and substan.",ot't'itstiial origin
5
theprairiesandforestsandlakes,astheMoon
sailedoverthem.
w-ascomposedchiefly of vegetaljuices,tadpoles,
bitumen,
-It
lentils,
honey,starchcrystals,itu.g.on eggs,molds,pollens,
gelatinous
matter,yorms,resins,p"p-p"r,mGral,rftr, *.U"stion residue.you had only to Oip tire ,pooo
under the scales
that coveredthe Moon's scabbyterrain,andyou
Uroughtii out
filledwith thatpreciousmuck.Not in tie pure
state,obviousrv.
therewasa lotof refuse.
In thefermentatiin
i;;;ilffiffiJ
as the.Moon passedover the expanses
of hot air aUovi Oe
deserts)not a'the.-bodiesmeltedlsomeremained
stuckin it:
fingernailsand cartilage,bolts, ,ru horrrr, nuts
and peduncles,
shardsoJ crockery,fishhooks,at times even
a comb. so this
paste,after it was collected,had to
be refined,fltered. Bui
that wasn'tthe difficulty:the hardpart rvastransporting
it down
to the Earth. This is how we did it: we hurled
.u.t"*;;;;;i
into the air with both hands,using the spoon
as a catapult.
The-cheese
flew,andif we had throlwnit hard.oougt, i
rio.[
to the ceiling,I mean the surfaceof the sea.
Once there, it
floated,and it waseasyenoughto pull it into ,fr. Uo"r.io ,ni,
operation,too, my deafcousindispiayeda
specialgift; he ha;
strengthand a good.aim; with a ,ingi", sharp
throi, f," .orfJ
sendthe cheese
straightinto a bucke-t
we held,p to'h;l;;;
the boat. As for me, I occasionallymisfired;
tfi" .";t;;;;-;;
the spoonwourd fa' to overcometn" uooo's
.tt.r.iion-"nJ
they would fall backinto my eye.
I still haven'ttold you-eu"ryt-hing,
aboutthe thingsmy cousin
wasgoodat That job of extracdntlunarmilk
trorn'ttre'ltoont
scaleswaschild'splayto him: insieadof the
spoon,at timeshe
had only to thrusthis barehandunderthe scales,
or evenone
He didn't proceedin any orderly way, but went
fng:"
to isoIatedplaces,jumpingfrom oneio the oih.r,-u,
it he wereplafing tricks on the M*1, surprisingher, or perhaps
ticHing-he'r.
And whereverhe put his hand,tfremiit spurted
out as if from
a nannygoat'steats.So the restof us had only
to follow him
and collectwith our spoonsthe substance
that i_ *;r;;r;;;
out, first here,then there,but alwaysas if by chance,
,in., tfrl
DeafOne'smovements
seemed
to haveno cliar, pru.ii.ut ,.o.r.
6
Therewereplaces,for example,that he touchedmerelyfor the
fun of tout^hiogth"t, gupt betweentwo scales,naked and
tcnderfoldsof lunar flesh.At timesmy cousinpressednot only
his fingersbut-in a carefullygaugedleap-his big toe (he
climbei onto tle Moon barefoot) and this seemedto be the
for him, if we couldjudgeby the chirping
heightof amusement
rou-odtthat camefrom his throatashe wenton leaping'
The soil of the Moon was not uniformlyscaly,but revealed
irregularbare patchesof pale, slipperyclay' Thesesoft arets
or to fly almostlike
the Deaf One to turn somersaults
rnspiired
u bi.d, as if he wantedto impresshis whole body into the
Moon'spulp. As he venturedfarther in this way' we lost sight
of him at one point. On the Moon there were vast areaswe
had neverhad iny reasonor curiosityto explore,and that was
that all thosesomerwheremy cousinvanished;I had suspected
eyeswere only a
our
in
before
saultsand nudgeshe indulged
to take place
meant
secret
preparation,a preludeto sometbing
in the hiddenzones.
We fell into a specialmood on thosc nights off ttre Zinc
as if insideour skulls,
Cliffs: gay,but with a touchof suspense,
insteadoi the brain, we felt a fish, floating,attractedby the
playingandsinging'The Captain's
Moon.And so we navigated,
had
very long arms,silvery as eels
she
harp;
played
the
wife
dark and mysteriousas sea
as
armpits
and
on thosj nights,
was sweetand piercing,so
harp
the
of
urchins;and the sound
and we were
unbearable,
almost
was
sweetand piercingit
the
accompany
much
to
so
not
forced to lei out long cries,
it'
from
musicas to protectour hearing
Transparentmedusasrose to the sea's surface,throbbed
therea moment,thenflew off, swayingtowardthe Moon' Little
Xlthlx amusedherselfby catchingthem in midair, thoughit
wasn'teasy.once, as shestretchedher little armsout to catch
one, sheiumpedup slightlyand was alsoset free' Thin as she
for
was,shewasan ounceor two shortof the weightnecessary
and
bring
attraction
Moon's
the
overcome
to
gfavity
the barth's
over
her back: so sheflew up amongthe medusas,suspended
playing,
started
and
laughed
then
cried,
the sea.Shetook fright,
catching shellfishand minnows
as they
flew, sticking some into
chewing,n.'.
w;
ililg
hTd,,9keep
upwith
lr";fri:l;:d
ormarine*",.4i1$t".:l.l:il1':T;"ff
Tfili#:tffi,.T
seaweeds'
andXlthlx nanging,ri.t"l" ihe
midst.Her two wispy
braidsseemedto be flyin"g3,
,rr""1irn, outstretched
toward
the Moon; oor *
Giwriggring and kicking at
9." lr{:;"
theair, asif shewanted
to fight tnut inlu"o.e, and
her socks_
shehad tost her *o:.,
d: u[Ol;ipped oft her feet
t
and
bv
iorc..
b" ,n'i"io"i*r',#u
;Jlffl',ilfrcted*rera'tn's
The idea of eatingthe little animals
in the air had beena
gcrd one; the more weight
Xrd;;ed,
rhe more she sank
tr wardthe Earth: in fact, ,in.,
u*?ni rhosehoveringbodies
herswasthelargest,.olf;kr-;;;"_5"
togravitate
abJut
her,*J r;;",il;1H11,ff:::.ttrH
siliceouslittle shells, iti"ou,
and fibers of sea
plants.And the farthe^h,
"t
"uC*r,
that
ra:rgle,tt, _orl
shewasfreedof the.Moo.n,.s
";;;J;;-i';
;fl;;;;;;til
she
grazed,rhesur_
'^
faceof the waterandsanki"a
,f,r'..1.
We rowedouickly,to pull her
out and saveher: her bodv
had remainedmasnitizeo,una*,
il;;
work hard to ,.rup"
off all.the
fncrustedon her. froa., corals
-fti"g,
werewound
abouther head,
and everytime w; ;;"
comb
throughher
hair therewasa showeroi crayfish
uoO-riOin"r;her eyeswere
sealedshurby limpetsclingin!
,o ,ir" fl], wirh their suckers;
squids'tentacles
werecoiled-arlunA
t.. ui
hirlittte;;;;;;^;eemed
woven ;i;:;1 i"JJilffll
We got the worst of^it off t.r,-Uui'iJr"*r"t,
"",,
afrerwards
she
went on pullingout fins and shells,
and her skin, dottedwith
little diatoms,remainedaffecred
fore"ri i""*rr_to someone
her carefuily_as if it were
faintry dusted
;rT flt#irotserve
shouldgiveyou an ideaof how
the influences
TT:
of Earrh
and
Moon, practically
foughi
our.
,fr"
space
between
.e3ual,them.I,' tell vou som-ething
f"il?at descended
to rhe
Earthfrom the satetitewasst'r
"q1.,
-i
charg-J
for a wh'e wirhlunar
8
forceand rejectedthe atuactionof our world. Even I, big and
heavyasI was: everytime I had beenup there,I took a while
to getusedto theEarth'sup andits down,andthe otherswould
haveto grabmy armsand hold me, clingingin a bunchin the
swayingboat while I still had my headhangingand my legs
stretchingup towardthe sky.
"Hold on! Hold on to us!" they shoutedat nxe,and in all
that groping,sometimesI endedup by seizingone of Mrs.
Vhd Vhd's breasts,which were round and fum, and the contact was good and secureand had an attractionas strong as
the Moon's or even stronger,especiallyif I managed,as I
plungeddown,to put my other arm aroundher hips, and with
this I passedback into our world and fell with a thud into the
bottom of the boat, where Captain Vhd Vhd brought me
around,throwinga bucketof waterin my face.
This is how the story of my love for the Captain-swife
began,and my suffering.Becauseit didn't take me long to
realizewhom the lady kept looking at insistently: when my
cousin'shandsclaspedthe satellite,I watchedMrs. Vhd Vhd,
and in her eyesI could read tle thoughtsthat the deaf man's
familiarity with the Moon were arousingin her; and when he
disappeared
ia his mysteriouslunar explorations,
f sawher becomerestless,as if on pins and needles,and then it was all
clearto me, how Mrs. Vhd Vhd was becomingjealousof the
Moon and I wasjealousof my cousin.Her eyesweremadeof
diamonds,Mrs. Vhd Vhd's;they flaredwhenshelookedat the
Moon, almostchallengingly,
asif sheweresaying:"You shan't
havehim!" And I felt like an outsider.
all of this wasmy deafcousin.
The onewho leastunderstood
pulling
helped
him
down,
him-as I explainedto
When we
you-by his legs,Mrs. Vhd Vhd lost all her self-control,doing
everythingshecould to take his weightagainsther own body,
foldingher long silveryarmsaroundhin; I felt a pangin my
heart (the timesI clung to her, her body was soft and kind,
but not thrustforward,the way it waswith my cousin),while
he wasindifferent,still lost in his lunarbliss.
I looked at the Captain,wonderingif he also noticedhis
wife'sbehavior;but there was nevera traceof any expression
on that faceof his, eatenby brine,markedwith tarry *ioHrr.
Sincethe Deaf One was alwaysthe last to break away from
the Moon, his return wasthe signalfor the boatsto moveoff.
Then,with an unusuallypolite gesture,Vhd Vhd pickedup the
harp from the bottom of the boat and handedit to tis witr.
she wasobligedto take it and play a few notes.Nothingcould
separateher more from the Deaf one than the soundof tho
harp.I t99k to singingn a low voicethat sad songthat goes:
',Eurry shinyfish is floating,floating;and everyAart nsn is at
the bottom,at the bottom of the sea . . ., and all the others,
exceptmy cousip,echoedmy words.
Everymonth,oncethe satellitehad movedon, the Deaf One
returnedto his solitarydetachment
from the thingsof the world;
ody the approachof the full Moon arousedhim again. Thai
time-I had arrangedthings so it wasn'tmy turn to go up, f
could stayin the boat with the Captain'swife. But then, as ioon
as my cousin had climbed the ladder, Mrs. Vhd \lhd said:
"This time I want to go up there,too!"
This had never happenedbefore; the Captain'swife had
nevergoneup on the Moon. But Vhd Vhd madeuo objection,
in^facthe
pushedher up the ladderbodily, exclaimingi
-atlost
"Go aheadthen!," and we all startedhelpingher, and I held
her from behind,felt her round and softbn my arms,and to
hold her up I beganto pressmy face and thi palms of my
handsagainsther, and when I felt her rising into the Moonk
sphereI washeartsickat that lost contact,so I startedto rush
after her, saying:"I'm goingto go up for a while, too, to help
out!tt
I was held back as if in a vise. ..you stay here; you have
work to do later," the Captaincommanded,
without ,airing his
voice.
At that momenteachone's intentionswere alreadyclear.
And yet I couldn'tfigurethingsout; evennow I'm not sureI've
interpretedit all correctly.certainly the captain'swife had for
a long time beencherishingthe desireto go off privatelywith
my cousinup there (or at leastto preventhim from goingoff
10
a still more amalonewith the Moon), but probablyshehad
out in agree'
iiri""t plan, one that.would have to be carried
them to hide
of
rr.ri*i,U tie Deaf One: shewantedthe two
But per,n.t. tsgetherand stayon the Moon for a month'
of
anything
"o
."""trtt, ot"t u, i" *ut, hadnt understood
ilo;;;
even
he hadn't
*fr.t tl. had tried to explainto him, or perhaps
And the
desires'
lady's
the
of
object
realizedthat he was thl
of his wife;
C.p,"i"f ff" wantednothingbetter-than to be rid
him give
saw
we
there'
up
i" iJ, u"toon as shewasJonfined
then we
and
vice,
into
plunge
ir." t.io to his inclinationsand
But
back'
her
hold
to
uoOrrrtooawhy he had done nottting
was
orbit
Moon's
the
had he known from the beginningthat
widening?
it. The Deaf one perhaps,
N*1"t us could havesuspected
he may-have
Ut oofy he: in the shadowyiuy lg knew things'
be forced to bid the Moon
heiswoutC
t-r-*
aa *a. u
iresentiment
t h a t n ig h t .that
T h is
whyhehidinhissecretplacesand
onf whenit wastime to comebackdownon board'
t
'i"t no useior the Captain'swife to try to follow-lht .Y'
ii ^pp."tta
and breadth'
sawher crossthe scalyzonevarioustimes'length
asif about
boat'
the
in
us
at
thensuddenlyshestoiped,looking
to askus whetherwe had seenhim'
night' The
Surelytlere was somethingstrangeabout that
the full
during
was
it
sea'ssurfaceninsteal of being taut is
limp'
see-med
now
il;;", o, ,urn archeda bit towardthe sky'
power'
its
full
if thelunarBaguetno longerexercised
r;;;;,
of other full
"t
And the light, too, *asoit the sameas the light
somehowto havethickened'
ft{o""t; thJnignfs shadowsseemed
what was happening;
realized
have
bui m.oat .ri tn.t" must
eyes'And frorn
frightened
with
us
in-fu.r, they iookedup at
a cry: "The
came
moment,
same
their mouthsand ours,at the
goingawaY!"
Moon's
-on th-e
fn" Jry t aOn'tAied out when my cousinappeared
amazed:
even
or
M;;, running'He didn't seemfrightened'
triry9f inig.his
fr" pfac.a his*handson the terrain'flinging
himselfinto
hurled
uruut,o*.rsault, but this time afterhe had
aslittle Xlthlx had' He hovered
he remainedsuspended,
tnr
"ft
11
a momentbetweenMoon.andEarth,
upsidedown, thenlaboriously movinghis arms,tit" ,omroo.
,iuirnnniogagainsta clu_
rent,he headedwith-unusual,for*.r,
iowarAour planet.
From the Moon the otheruuifo*
n*trned to follow his example.Nobodvsa
;-"fi
;,;;"d;{irt*J'#"ll';::'"f,ffi
ysfi
#**
them for this. They haOareaJy;"id
was difficult to crossby now; *nro-tl.Vtoo long, the distance
tried to imitate my
cousin's
leapor r.y^grr;,
{:
suspended
in midair. "cling t6g.tn*r-iorots!
^*;Td;J;#;;;#,
cling together!,,
the Captainyelled. rhf .;#;;ilsailors
tried to form a
{
Soup, a mass,to pushall togetheruntil they
,r";t;-A;;;;
of the Earth's attiaction: uu;i;-;;alo
u .ur.ude of bodies
plungedinto the seawith
il;pil;.*
The boats were
"
lo:v Igwing to pirt &em up. ,.Wait! The
Captain'swife is missing!"
I;;r:J.
The Caprain,swife had
alsotriedto jump,b't ihe *;;;ilft;;e
;i["*
ffi:
from the Moon,slowlymoving
dt";;;".ry
armsin the air.
I climbedup theladder,anOii u ouioTtt*pt
to giveher something to graspI held rie h.rp;"t
tr;JO t.r. ,t can,t reach
her! We have ro so after ni,rl;
al'i
startedto jump up,
brandishingthe haip' Above me
theliormous lunar disk no
longerseemed
thesameasbefore:irhJ;
tigt
ir,y
d; "**fi?T
i1 :".il;ti,;;ls
:Tf[:
emptied
skygaped
likean
"ffilthe
stars
iUlr, *nrr.,li'rn, botrom,
Orr* multiptyingrSa.
tlg."-rsIin**o a riverof empti_
119
nessoverme, drownedme in Oirziness
anAAu*r.
"fm afraid," r thought."r,*l;;;;fr"to
jump. r,m a cow_
ard!" and at that momentI jumped.
i;;"*
furiouslythrough
the sk' and hetd the harp il;;;"art
instead
of cominp
towardme sherolled ovei and
over,,i"*i"g *. ;;; h* t:
passive
faceandthenher backsiJe.'-..""
"Hold tight to me!, I shouted,and
I was.alreadyovertaking
her,.entwining
my limbswitr, rrrn.:,r] ;;';i.g
togetherwe can
go down!" and I was.concentrating
all my strengthon unitins
myselfmorecloselvwirh her,
i;;;rateJ-my;;;;;:
as r enjoyedthe fullnessof that.*b;;;.J
"nd
was so absorbedI
72
didn't realize at first that I was, indeed, tearing her from her
wcightlesscondition, but was making her fall back on the Moon'
Oia-n'tI realizeit? Or had that been my inteotion from the very
bcginning? Before I could 1foinkproperlY, a cV was already
Uuisting-frommy throat. "I'll be the one to stay with you for a
monthli Or ratler, "On you!" I shouted, in my excitement:
"On you for a month!" and at tlat moment our embrace was
broken by our fall to the Moon's surface,where we rolled away
from each other among those cold scales.
I raised my eyes uJ t AiO every time I touched the Moon's
crust, sure that I would see above me the native sea like an
endlessceiling, and I saw it, yes, I saw it this time, too, but
much higher, and much more narrow, bound by its borders of
and promontories, and how small the boats
coasts uod
"tift.
unfamiliar my friends' faces and how weak
how
seemed,and
reached me from nearby: Mrs' Vhd Vhd
A
sound
their cries!
harp
and was caressingit, sketching out a
had discoveredher
chord as sad as weePing.
A long month began. The Moon turned slowly around the
Earth. on ttre suspendedglobe we no longer saw our familiar
shore,but the passageof oceansas deep as abyssesand deserts
of glowing lapilli, and continents of ice, and forests withing
witi reptiles, and the rocky walls of mountain chains gashed
by swifi rivers, and swampy cities, and stone graveyards,and
empiresof clay and mud. The distancespread a uniform color
oveireverything: the alien perspectivesmade every image alien;
herds of Llephants and swarms of locusts ran over the plains,
so evenly vast and dense and thickly grown that there was no
differenceamong them.
I should have been happy: as I had dreamed, I was alone
with her, that intimacy with the Moon I had so often envied
my cousin and with Mrs. Vhd Vhd was now my exclusive
prerogative, a month of days and lunar nights stretched uniot".-ptra before us, the crust of the satellite nourished us
with iti milk, whose tart flavor was familiar to us, we raised
our eyesuP, uP to the world where we had been born, finally
traveised in all its various expanse, explored landscapesno
13
Earth-beinghad ever seen,or erse
we contemprated
the stars
beyondthe Moon, Uigas pLce, of-t*ir,
madeof light, ripened
on the curvedbranchesof-the,ty,
uoJ.u.rything exceeded
my
mostluminoushoDes,_and
yet, ;J il it was,Lsie;;-;"flr.
-ot
I thoughtgnty iU, Eirtn. f,-ri*'*,"
Earth that caused
eachof us to be tlat someone
he wasratherthan someone
else.
up there,wrestedfrom the farth, ii
wasas if I wereno tong*
that I, nor shethat She,to, rre. i
** eagerto return to the
Earth, and r trembred_
ai trtr i;;;
losr it. The fulfi'mentof my dreamof love had lasted
"ii""i"g
only that instantwhenwe
had beenunited,spinningU.r*.." f*li'and
Moon; torn from
io, :*.tUty s9il, my love iow t".,
hearr_rending
noswhat it lacked: a where,a""iitr,e
s,inounOiog,a before,an
Sr:l "r
This is what I was feeling.But she?
As I askedmyself,I
was torn by my fears.Becauieif she
alsothough,
Earth, this could be a g,ood.rigo,
"iln"
Urutlf," ""fy
1li fi"4i
cometo understand
me, but it c;uld1-rigo
alsi meanthat everythins
had beenusetess,
that.herlongi"g;;;; dirr;ffi"*;j;f,i
toward my deaf cousin.rnsteadl,n"
i.it nothing. She never
r-aisedher eyesto the_old planet,,lr-*o,
off, pale, among
thosewastelands,
mumbtiogdirg.s ;J,;;"kirgl.;
liJl;
ri
completelyidentifiedwith
t-.o'poru.y( u, i ti,oughii i;;;
state.Did this meanI had.her
won out ouermy rival? No; I had
lost: a hopelessdefeat.Becausesne
laa fina'y realizedthat
my cousinlovedonly_the Moon, and
the onty thing shewanted
now wasto becomethe Moon, to be
assimil"t.airr?"ii.;;;;
of that extrahumanlove.
When the Moon had completedits circling
of the planet,
e::"
were againover thi Zinc Cliffs. I recognized
-yr
them
with-dismay:not evenin my darkestpr.ui.ion,
had
I
thousht
trredistance
wouldhave
madlthern
soiiny.i"-ii.,,"affi:i;
th,ey, my friendshadsettortl agaio,'*i,nou,
9f
thenow use_
Iessladders;but from the boats,orJ
lina of forestof long
poles;.everybody
was brandishingoni" witf, hd;;
;;";
grapplinghook at &:...od, perhap:s
" of scraping
in tire hope
off
a last bit of Moon_miltor bt tenaing,o,o"
fioo
h;p-;; ;;
"f
14
wrctchesup there. But it was soon clear that no pole was long
cnough to reach the Moon; and they dropped back, ridicuIously short, humbled, floating on the sea; and in that confusion
someof the boats were &rown oft balance and overturned. But
just then, from another vessela longer pole, which tiil then they
had dragged along on tle water's surface, began to rise: it
must have been made of bamboo, of many, many bamboo
poles stuck one into the other, and to raise it they had to go
slowly because-thin as it was-if they let it sway too much
it might break. Therefore, they had to use it with geat strength
and skill, so that the wholly vertical weigbt wouldn't rock the
boat.
Suddenly it was clear that the tip of that pole would touch
the Moon, and we saw it gue, then press against the scaly
terrain, rest there a moment, give a kind of little push, or ratber
a strong push that made it bounce off again, then come back
and strike that same spot as if on the rebound, then move
away once more. And I recognized, we both-the Captain's
wife and I-recognized my cousin: it couldn't have been any'
one else,he was playing his last gamewith the Moon, one of his
tricks, with the Moon on the tip of his pole as if he were juggling with her. And we realized that his virtuosity had no purpose, aimed at no practical result, indeed you would have said
he was driving the Moon away, that he was helping her departure, that he wanted to show her to her more distant orbit.
And tliis, too, was just like him: he was unable to conceive
desiresthat went againsttle Moon's nature, tle Moon's course
and destiny, and if the Moon now tended to go away from him,
then he would take delight in this separationjust as, till now,
he had delightedin the Moon's nearness.
What could Mrs. Vhd Vhd do, in the face of this? It was
only at this moment that she proved her passion for the deaf
man hadn't been a frivolous whim but an irrevocable vow.
If what my cousin now loved was the distant Moon, then she
too would remain distant, on the Moon. I sensedthis, seeing
that she didn't take a step toward the bamboo pole, but simply
turned her harp toward the Earth, high in the sky, and plucked
15
thc strings.I say I sawher, but to tell the truth I only caught
minufs
a glimpseof her out of thecornerof my eye,because
1fos
the polehad touchedthe lunar crust,I had sprungandgrasped
it, and now, fast as a snake,I was climbingup the bamboo
knots,pushingmyseltalongwith jerks of my anns and knees,
light in the rarefledspace,driven by a naturalpowerthat orderedme to return to the Earth, obliviousof the motivethat
had broughtme here,or perhapsmore awareof it than ever
and of its unfortunateoutcome;and alreadymy climb up the
swayingpole had reachedtle point whereI no longerhad to
makeany effort but couldjust allow myselfto slide,head-first,
attractedby the Earth, until in my hastethe pole broke into a
thousandpiecesand I fell into the sea,amongthe boats.
My return was sweet,my home refound,but my thoughts
were filled only with griet at having lost her, and my eyes
gazedat the Moon, foreverbeyondmy reach,as I soughther.
And I sawher. ShewastherewhereI had left her, lying on a
beachdirecflyover our beads,and shesaid nothing.Shewas
the color of the Moon; sheheld the harp at her sideand moved
I could distinguish
one hand now and then in slow arpeggios.
just as I rememher
bosom,
her
arms,
her
tbighs,
shape
of
the
just
the
Moon
as now, when
has becomethat
ber &em now,
flat, remotecircle,I stiil look for her as soonas the fust sliver
appearsin the sky, and the more it waxes,the more clearlyI
imagineI canseeher, her or somethingof her, but only her, in
a hundred,a thousanddifferentvistas,shewho makesthe Moon
the Moon and, whenevershe is full, setsthe dogsto howling
all nightlong,andme with them.
16