The Two Sister-Moons

A very, very, long time ago, the Mistress Earth lived in endless space, surrounded by nothing but black emptiness and distant shimmering stars. The Mistress Earth was not as we know her today, for she was but a young woman with no cares to her years, and she lived with her two daughter-moons. These two daughter-moons, together, always shone in her skies, and thus there was always light, enough to make things grow, but never enough to make man sweat hard upon his brow when working in the fields.

The elder daughter-moon of the Mistress Earth was fair, and was handsome, and was full, and always she shone fully in the dusky skies of the Mistress Earth. The younger daughter-moon, however, was smaller, but was fairer by far, for she shone like purest silver, and thus lit up the sky like a spark of brilliant beauty. The two sisters lived together calmly for what was an age and more, and the Mistress Earth often looked at her two daughter-moons, and was happy.

However, in her heart, beneath her silvery smile, the younger daughter-moon was sad. Although fairer, she was jealous of her elder sister's fullness and roundness, and she wanted the sky to be for her alone, and for all the other children in the embrace of the Mistress Earth to look upon her and her alone. A very, very, long time ago, the Mistress Earth lived in endless space, surrounded by nothing but black emptiness and distant shimmering stars. The Mistress Earth was not as we know her today, for she was but a young woman with no cares to her years, and she lived with her two daughter-moons. These two daughter-moons, together, always shone in her skies, and thus there was always light, enough to make things grow, but never enough to make man sweat hard upon his brow when working in the fields. And so, all was good.

The elder daughter-moon of the Mistress Earth was fair, and was handsome, and was full, and always she shone fully in the dusky skies of the Mistress Earth. The younger daughter-moon, however, was smaller, but was fairer by far, for she shone like purest silver, and thus lit up the sky like a spark of brilliant beauty. The two sisters lived together calmly for what was an age and more, and the Mistress often looked at her two daughter-moons, and was happy.

However, in her heart, beneath her silvery smile, the younger daughter-moon was sad. Although fairer, she was jealous of her elder sister's fullness and roundness, and she wanted the sky to be for her alone, and for all the other children in the embrace of the Mistress Earth to look upon her and her alone. So one day, when everyone was fast asleep, she roused and stole to her sister's side, and watched as that fair, full face slept, the breath like wind and cloud rising and falling. Watching as that fair face slept, she knew in her heart what she had to do.

When day came again, and the sisters roused, and the Mistress Earth looked upon her two daughter-moons, a great cry was heard by all the land. For in the dark of night the younger of the two daughter-moons had sullied her sister's face, and caused it to be muddy and brown. Men and Mistress alike looked in horror at the once-beautiful face of the daughter-moon, and wept at the loss of such a fair face in the sky. The Mistress Earth turned her most barren deserts to face her scarred daughter, lest she catch sight of her own terrible reflection in a drop of water, and when she faced her younger daughter, she could only shed tears at the atrocity of her act.

The scarred daughter-moon turned her face to the stars and wishing upon that beauty of theirs that once she too shared, wished that she would no longer have to bear the burden of that sullied face. The stars, hearing her plea, brought together the brightest thousand amongst themselves, and turned their light into endless strings of glowing thread, and together they formed a veil, so that the scarred daughter-moon would never have to face all of creation with her once-perfect face.

And this is why, to this day, the two sisters never inhabit the same skies. The Mistress Earth faces her elder daughter-moon with the same unchanging love, but no man on earth may ever face her directly, for the brilliance of the stars masks her true, scarred face. The younger daughter-moon, however, only brings tears to her mother's eyes, and that is why the tides brim with the salt of the Mistress Earth's tears only when the younger daughter-moon's face shines full in the dusky skies. And that is why we have the Sun and the Moon, who were once sister-moons, but now cannot be together, for one is consumed by guilt, the other by sadness.