A look at some of the moon folktales that have been told in different cultures.
Sun and Moon are married and have children together. Sun takes his children out with him during the day. This makes moon very worried because it is far too hot for the children to be out during the day. So Moon takes it upon herself to fix this. She makes her children only come out at night with her. Of course her husband Sun is very angry by this so he chases her across the sky. He has caught her a few times thus, this is when eclipses occur.
This story is from the Benin people of Gambia. It is a very practical story. In Africa it is certainly too hot for children to go out during the day. Almost every culture has a Moon story. Whether it is in a fashion similar to this or giving the moon a human form. Such as the Celtic myths of Rhiannon a Goddess of the moon. Some cultures also reserve the sun and moon as mythical symbols. The Egyptians believed that the sun and the moon are the eyes of the God Horus. On the evenings when the Sun and the moon are both in the sky then Horus looses his sight.
Another interesting myth is from the Oto people of Native America. They have a folktale about how the man got in the moon. A boy from another village named Running Antelope fell in love with a girl named Little Hill. However, the evil chief of the village was in love with her as well. Much to the dismay of the evil chief Running Antelope and Little Hill were married. One night the village chief took Little Hill when Running Antelope was not home. When Running Antelope realized his was gone he went to the home of the chief and found her there. He confronted the chief who then perused him poison arrows. Running Antelope ran through the woods with the evil chief not far behind. When Running Antelope reached the shores of the lake he prayed to the water spirits to save him then dove in the lake. Just as the chief reached the lake he saw a great tower of water go straight up to the moon. He closed his eyes quickly for he did not want to view the water spirits, he was so afraid. There on the moon Running Antelope remained. Forever safe but separated from his wife. And do you worry about that evil chief he got his in the end. One day while hunting by that lake he saw the reflection of Running Antelope and being so consumed with hate he dove in and attempted to kill him. However, the water spirits killed him instead.
