The Dog That Chewed the Moon

“Grandpa why does the moon have all those spots on it?” asked the little girl looking up into the night sky while holding her grandfather’s hand.

“There are two answers to that question sweety-pie.” He sat down on the small bench in his backyard and patted the seat next to him inviting his curious grandchild to join him.

“The first answer is the modern scientific one that astronomers use, and they say those dark spots are craters where meteors crashed into the Moon’s surface and left those big holes.” Pointing up he added, “You’ll see some are very large and others are quite small and there are a lot of them.” Looking into the face of this curious child, he asked, “Are you warm enough with your coat open like that or should we zip you up?”

The zipper on the coat was pulled up to neck level as dusk descended upon them.

Grandpa continued, “The second answer is not scientific, but I like the story better.” He began, “A very long time ago, about the same time people learned to ride horses and milk cows, a great big argument took place up high in the night sky.

All the stars and the Aurora were complaining about the moon shining too brightly every night.

“Moon shines so bright, we cannot be seen,” said Aurora, “That is not fair as we are beautiful and people on Earth come outside to look up at us but can’t see us because of Moon being too bright.”

The stars agreed Moon needed to turn down her brightness a little bit so that all the others in the night sky could be seen by the people on Earth. This argument went on for a long time with the Moon ignoring her critics. “Why should I turn down my brightness?” the Moon asked nobody in particular, “I am beautiful too and people on Earth like to look up and admire me. So why should I change for the Stars and Aurora?”

After a few hundred years it remained this way until one night when Aurora had planned an extra-special dance display. She had been practicing for a long, long time to perfect her show for the people on Earth and because there were no clouds on Earth, tonight she would present it for all to enjoy. As soon as Sun went down that night and darkness filled the sky, Aurora began her slow, rhythmic dance. She was flowing her colours from green to pink and red in amazing designs she had planned for so long. Like long sheets of thin gauze in her favourite colours of red, green and purple, Aurora was growing brighter and moving gracefully smooth like gentle wind-blown grass out in the darkness of space.

Aurora looked down and saw the people standing outdoors to look up at her beautiful performance and she was very pleased with herself. She could hear the stars cheering for her wonderful dance and she knew this was the best she had ever performed. The people below oohed and awed and remarked how beautiful Aurora was as they pointed above them.

Aurora was so caught up in her dance that she didn’t notice Moon rise up from behind the shadow of the Earth. She did see the many people on earth walking back into their homes when Moon was all the way up and she felt very disappointed; “Wait, oh please wait!” she cried to the people, “I have something special I want to show you – I have been practicing for so long…” but she knew that the Moon’s brightness had once again overpowered her dance, making it difficult to see from Earth. Feeling very sad Aurora slowly faded to the darkness of space again and hid from view for a few weeks.

“Moon is so mean!” said one of the stars out loud, others agreed, “Aurora worked on that dance for so long and nobody got to see her finish it - its not fair that Moon can do that to her.” said Vega, one of the brighter stars, “ I can take it, I mean all I do is hang here and twinkle. I don’t invent shows for the people, I don’t dance – I just stay here and twinkle every night, but Aurora works so hard on her dances she really should get to perform them so all can see how wonderfully beautiful and talented she is.”

All the stars agreed and decided something should be done to prevent Moon from ruining another of Aurora’s dances. “But what can we do?” asked Altair a small flashy star living in the constellation of Aquila, “Moon never listens to us and she can be so crazy sometimes.”

Canopus, a wise old star said, “That’s called being a Lunatic – Luna is her real name you know, some humans began calling her Moon and it caught on, but her real name is Luna and she can be real crazy sometimes. You can tell when it is happening because she swells up perfectly round and she glows the brightest she can….and she can make some animals and humans a bit crazy when she’s like that too.”

“I doubt it,” said Regulus, one of the oldest and brightest stars, “That’s when she may be crazy, but it’s also when she is the proudest and shows off even more. I think we’re going to need some help.”

But who could they ask to help they all wondered? Nobody bothered the Sun about this kind of thing as the Sun already had lots to do to keep the solar system working as it should. And who could speak to the Moon in such a way that she would do as they asked without getting crazy and being bad in other ways - like the last time she got mad and moved all the oceans on the Earth and the places where the humans lived got washed out to the sea forever and many humans and animals were hurt and died.

“I have an idea,” said Sirius the Dog-Star who is sometimes called the North or Pole Star because all the stars rotated around him in the northern part of the night sky making it easy for their group discussions. “There is this dog on Earth that thinks Moon is a toy ball falling from the sky and wants to catch it. I have watched this dog spend hours looking up at Moon and she grumbles to herself about catching it and chewing it, throwing Moon around and burying it and keeping it for herself so nobody else can play with Moon besides her….maybe this dog can help us?”

“Maybe we can ask if she could help?” Regulus said. So, Sirius agreed to talk to the dog in their special language that only dogs, foxes, coyotes, wolves and just a few very, very smart ravens can understand.

Sirius knew the dog’s name was Xev and that as a dog, she was always looking to do something fun and exciting. So later that night when Xev was asleep on the floor in her human’s house, Sirius whispered, “Xev – I have an idea that I think you’ll like a lot.”

“I have been watching you and I know how much you like to run and jump high as you can…and catch balls and sticks in the air.” Xev began to run a little bit in her sleep because she understood about liking to run fast. Her legs jerked as she laid on her small rug and a smile formed on her sleeping face.

Sirius continued, “ Yes Xev, I have watched you planning to catch the Moon when it is bright and high in the sky at night…..I can use my magic to help you to catch the Moon Xev so you can play with it; does that sound like fun?”

At this statement Xev woke up, shook her head and got up to get a drink of water from the small bowl near the door. She stretched and also looked out to see if the Moon was up in the sky but did not see it. Yes! Xev thought I would like very much to catch the Moon and play with it, bite it, chew it and bury it for later.

Sirius explained his idea to the dog about how she could catch the Moon and keep it for herself; but she had to promise not to loose the Moon or misplace it because even if she was mean to the other stars and Aurora, Moon was indeed beautiful and Important but could be just a little crazy and mean.

Xev the dog agreed and thought to herself how much fun it will be to finally catch the Moon and be able to play with it like she had dreamed about for so long.

So with all the stars in agreement and Aurora providing a bit of her powerful magic for the special night, Sirius informed all the stars that Xev was going to catch the Moon two nights from then and everybody had to keep it secret so that Moon would not find out and ruin the plans they had made.

But for two days Xev was very excited because she knew what was coming and she thought more and more about how fun it will be to catch the Moon, but unlike playing ball with her people, catching the Moon was a one-time thing because without Aurora’s magic nobody could pick up the Moon and throw it back into the sky for her to catch again. So Xev lay on her rug by the fire in her house and planned how she would make the most of catching the Moon. Showing it off to all the other dogs in her neighbourhood and not sharing it, because it was hers and she had promised Sirius not to misplace it.

“Tonight, I catch the moon!” Xev barked at a squirrel on the fence in her backyard. “It will be mine to have and keep, so I will not have to chase you and all your rodent friends for fun anymore, I will have the Moon to play with instead.” she bragged.

That night she did not eat all of her supper as she did not want to be too heavy which might limit how high she could jump – and she didn’t want to miss catching the Moon. She became very excited when Sun set, and her people wondered why she was so distracted and if she might be sick or something.

After her people all went to their beds for the night, Xev decided to catch a short nap too as it might be a busy night and she would need energy for it.

“Xev, its time.” whispered Sirius quietly although nobody or no thing could hear him speaking. Xev was instantly awake, alert and ready to play. The magic began and Xev found herself outside under the warm, dark night sky with all the stars gathered in attendance to watch the performance they knew was coming. “There is still some more magic needed before you can catch the Moon,” Sirius explained, “Its Aurora’s magic so we have to wait a little bit before she can turn it on for you.” Xev was the most excited she had even been in her life, anxious to play this new wonderful game.

Moon came up from behind the mountains across the river and Xev watched her climb higher in the sky. Sirius spoke quietly to her again, “Aurora says you should be feeling her magic now…do you feel it?”

Xev did feel stronger and energetic and was very excited, but she was tired of waiting and wanted to run and jump so very high to catch the Moon hanging just there in the distance.

“Get the Moon!” Sirius commanded and Xev burst into a very fast run towards the unsuspecting Moon. She was judging the distance to go before she would have to begin the longest and highest jump she had ever tried to make. Her concentration focused on how her feet where moving so quickly and NOW as she launched herself with all of her strength towards the bright shining Moon. Higher and higher she climbed at a speed faster than she had ever gone before. The Moon ahead getting bigger as she got closer when she felt Aurora’s magic making Moon to slowly become the same size as the ball she played with often at home.

Closer and closer she flew until she opened her mouth and caught Moon securely in her teeth. Aurora’s magic returned her to her backyard where she began to examine her new prize. Sniffing at it, nudging it with her nose to make it roll a short distance away for her to pounce on it and bite softly feeling how hard this object is. It did not taste as she had thought it would, it tasted more like an old dusty lake rock like the ones you find up high on a beach among the wood bits

In the new darkness she laid down on the damp grass and began to chew on the Moon leaving teeth marks on the once-smooth surface, and some doggy drool too of course.

Eventually Xev became tired and put the Moon next to her other toys in her sleeping place near the garden and laid down for a snooze as Aurora performed the greatest dance she had ever created.

At the conclusion of Aurora’s dance all the stars and even some of the grumpy old planets applauded and cheered their thanks for such a brilliant and dazzling display. The people on Earth who witnessed it also praised Aurora for such a magnificent performance, ‘The best ever!’ many of them commented.

Some weeks passed without Moon in the sky each night and people on Earth began to worry about the ocean water remaining the same level all day and found it was reducing their fishing success. Some other creatures were also out of sorts without the moon’s timetable to help manage their lives. Turtles, some fish and crabs did not gather to reproduce as a result of no moon in the sky. Some insects like moths and ants were also confused without the Moon to keep them on their usual schedule. Migrating birds, bats and insects also use the Moon to help them navigate at night during their migrations, but with no Moon to guide them, they became confused and lost and could only fly during the daytime, something the humans did not like.

People on Earth noticed these many changes since Moon was no longer in the night sky. They did enjoy seeing more stars and the wonderful presentations Aurora was creating each night, but they worried if there would be bigger problems without Moon in the sky.

Sirius was watching Xev and her playing with Moon just about everyday. Moon had become her favourite toy and she would chew Moon a lot. Moon now had many teeth marks on her surface - some large and some smaller, but there was a lot of them. Sirius was also aware of what changes were happening on Earth and how it was affecting the people there. Sirius was concerned that some really big problems may occur if Moon remained on Earth.

So, in the darkness of the evening Sirius called a meeting with all the other stars and planets to discuss what he was seeing happen on Earth.

“If Moon stays on Earth with the dog, we could see some really big problems happen,” said Sirius, “Perhaps it would be best if Moon was back in the sky at night again.” Most of the stars agreed that might be the best thing to do.

“I wonder how Moon feels about these changes?” asked Regulus. “Perhaps she will be more agreeable to changing her brightness each night so that humans can also see Aurora and all of we stars?”

For a long time, the Stars and Planets discussed how to solve this problem so that everything was normal again and Moon would agree not to shine too brightly each night.

“I think we need to involve the Sun,” said Betelgeuse. “Sun is very smart and knows each of us very well and I think she could help us to do the right thing for everybody. “

All of them agreed and they took a vote to nominate one of them to speak with Sun to ask her help. Sirius volunteered because he felt more responsible for his role in creating this problem with Moon.

Later that month Sirius had a meeting with Sun to explain the problem and ask for help in fixing it. Sun listened quietly to Sirius’ explanation of how this problem began with Moon shining too brightly and not letting the other stars and Aurora to be seen from Earth.

“I think I have a solution that could work,” said the Sun after pondering the matter for a couple of weeks. “But I must first speak with Earth and Moon to hear from them if my idea is a good one for everybody involved. As we have seen that many troublesome changes have happened since that dog caught Luna and kept her on Earth, I know I’ll be able to secretly communicate with Luna when the time is right.”

Only in a very rare occasion did Sun call a meeting for all the Planets and Stars to attend, all of them knew what this meeting was about.

At the appointed time Sun called the meeting to order. All the planets and stars, and some passing meteors settled down and listened to what Sun had to say.

“ I have spoken with both Earth and Luna and I think we have found a solution, so that all of you can remain beautiful and visible from Earth, but it will take some sharing of my light and we have made a schedule to be fair to all.” said the Sun.

So it was made a rule that Luna would alter her evening displays so that it took thirty rotations of Earth – now called a month - for her to complete her brightness changes, where she would only be fully bright for just a few nights a month, and she would disappear for a few days each month before she repeated her new display of only showing a bit of her brightness, but each night she would show a bit more until she would once again be fully bright and large in the sky.

Sun explained that it was a difficult deal to make with Luna because of her known challenging mental state, but Earth spoke up and told about all the problems being experienced since Luna disappeared thanks to that dog. So, it was agreed that Luna would be returned to the high night sky and she would follow a schedule for thirty nights of growing size and brightness.

Also, as a part of the deal, they agreed that both Sun and Earth would work together every eight months or so to create something called an eclipse which would make Moon even more sensational by creating dramatic fiery ring-like displays between the three of them that the humans on Earth would enjoy very much.

So, all the planets, stars and Moon were happy with the solution they came up with and everybody got to show Earth’s people all the wonderful things each of them could do now that they could be seen much easier. The oceans once again changed their levels as the Moon determined, and all the fish and animals were happy to be back to normal once again.

The only one not happy was Xev who no longer got to play with the Moon anymore, she was offered alternatives, but she didn’t consider them an even trade, so she sulked and felt sorry for herself. She did take pleasure by looking up to see all the teeth marks she left in the Moon’s skin and she would often look up and remember the one part of the deal made with the Sun that she liked very much.

It was agreed that all canines – that’s wolves, coyotes, dogs, foxes, hyenas, dingos, and jackals would all howl as loud as they can when the Moon is full and bright, to remind her of what will happen again if she misbehaves and does not share the sky at night.