THE MOON MAN

Once upon a time, a man took his axe and went to a nearby bush to split firewood on a Sacred Day. He was not a stranger in the Land. So he knew that one should not work, cry, quarrel or fight on Eke market day no matter what. So his act amounted to defiance. He caught the full impact of his offence when God  placed him on the moon for all to see, as a reminder that disobedience is not good. Thereafter, to forestall such a drastic penalty from God, men quickly intervene whenever there is contravention on Sacred Days. They gather together immediately they hear the noise of quarrelling on a Holy Day and punish the offenders by giving them a fine of a fowl each. Thereafter the community pursue and catch any fowl seen in the vicinity. The fowls are killed, cooked and eaten by all the people present as a kind of peace offering but if the fowls do not belong to the offenders, they would pay for them.

As the moon emerges every month, the figure of the man on the moon is shown to the world again and again as an example of what insubordination can cause. So that people will learn to respect the laws of the land. At first the moon looks like a crescent or bow. It grows by the day until it becomes round and full moon and the man on the moon becomes more visible for all to see. When the new moon emerges, children joyously and repeatedly chant the chorus: “Lele ọnwa ọhụrụ a pula! - Look, the new moon is out!” There are nights when the moon fails to show up and it is said, “Ọnwa ajụla nri -The Moon has rejected its food.” When the Moon sulks and starves, the Moon man also starves. On such moonless nights young people are disappointed for they cannot gather together for moonlight shows. The man on the moon is happy whenever people come out in the open air for (odụ-ezi) moonlight plays: reciting fables, riddles and jokes, singing, dancing, robbing minds, guessing the symbolism of things, counting the stars holding their breath, etc. He enjoys human company and does not like to be left alone and lonely. “Nwabusu sị ọnweghi ihe ka mmerịkọta ahụ - The pussy cat says that nothing is better or more soothing than rubbing one’s body against someone else’s.” Thus, the man exiled on the moon tries to follow people wherever they go, as it were, pleading with them to ask God for reprieve so that he can return to his home and relatives; he longs for them. That is why the moon seems to follow people wherever they go.  All the stories in this book are some of the tales by moonlight which the Moon Man enjoys with us when we gather together in the open air for moonlight plays. We learnt the stories from our forebears, who passed them on to us. As we tell the stories, we equally hand them over to our children and grandchildren to perpetuate our values. Leisure is good and recreating.

CRITICAL THINKING

It is amazing that our Igbo ancestors conceptually landed a man on the moon and quarantined him there from time immemorial. But, July 20, 1969 marked the historic landing of Neil Armstrong, the first known human person to step on the surface of the moon. It is rightly said that myth and science overlap.

The moral of the fable, however, is the importance of keeping the law. The breaking of the law was clearly linked to punishment. This correlation between disobedience and punishment is pedagogically important in the formation of young people. It teaches children that whoever disobeys the law gets punished. This is civic education.

Because of the drastic punishment given to the Man exiled on the Moon, the people learnt to keep Holy Days of the week sacred by refraining from servile works and unwholesome acts such as domestic violence. There is even a mystical stream called wọsọeke - Eke is sacrosanct. In the olden days people did not fish or fetch water from this river on Eke days for fear of coming face to face with the spirits that inhabited the stream.  Such rules were internalized and kept, out of fear of sanctions but it afforded people one day of leisure every week. Most importantly, it also helped to maintain peace in the community.

The value of togetherness and recreation was highlighted in the story. The Moon man yearned for companionship and he mooned for or had nostalgia for his relatives. Our forefathers had longevity because they not only ate organic food but they also had leisure. It is ironical that our generation has short lifespan in spite of reduced drudgery due to the mechanization of virtually every sector of the economy. In an endless pursuit of wealth and fame, our generation has almost forgotten how to relax and enjoy fresh air.

It was because our forebears had leisure that they observed nature as expressed in the optical illusion (the moon seems to follow us) and also their observance of cloudy moonless nights which was interpreted as the Moon’s refusal to eat its food. Of course when a man is unhappy and refuses to eat, he sulks and does not perform his duties.  The same was attributed to the Moon. This personification of nature, especially animals is very common in most traditional stories. Its significance is that our people are oriented by person-centred thinking.

The story posited the idea of God, who punishes offenders. People exhibited fellow feeling and empathy as they step in immediately to punish offenders before God does it directly. In as much as their own immediate intervention and sanction helped to deter people from breaking the law they served God’s purpose. So God and man work in tandem.

Moonlight play is an avenue for the handing down of tradition from one generation to the next, which is a sacred duty. The moral of the folklore is that we should learn to relax, eschew unruly behaviours, and respect the laws of the land.  The Moon is friendly to everyone because it seems to follow people wherever they go. People too should learn to be friendly so that they can enjoy Moonlight shows for no one can afford to play with enemies, especially at night.

Eboh M.P., Fables, Proverbs & Critical Thinking, Pearl Publishers International, Port Harcourt, 2015, pp. 79-83