Week 2 Story: How the Man Became the Moon

After growing up in a small town for my whole life, there seemed to be nothing more than being a blacksmith. My father was a blacksmith, my grandfather was a blacksmith... it sort of runs in the family. I grew up watching my father go to work every day, loathing the day ahead of him and all that was to come. There seemed to be nothing more – nothing more than simply never being content.

I would hear my father talk to my mother, confiding in her when they thought I could not hear. I would hear him say how he wished he could change my life for me, how he wished more for me than to grow up and live the life that had seemed to be passed down from generation to generation. He would have done anything in his power to change my life plans. 

When it came time for me to be on my own, I began to take over my father's blacksmith trade. I found myself falling into the life I always dreaded – waking up, going to work, and loathing it every step of the way. I never was content, and oh, how I wished my father would have been able to change my life plans.

One day while I was on the job, I wished for nothing more than to have a life full of cool breezes, great views and away from everything that was tying me to the life I've always known. As if it had been fate, the thought filled my head of wanting to be a stone on a mountainside, and before I could have done anything, I was now living that life. 

Oh, how wonderful it was on that mountainside. I was finally living a care-free, simple life that I never thought would be attainable. Everything was great, until one day a stone-cutter came to the mountain and found the stone I was to be especially intriguing. Well, I didn't like that too much, and as soon as I could have done anything about it, I was then transported to being a stone-cutter myself. Take that stones!

As that job begin to take a tole on me, I began to long for more things in life, as it seemed every one of my very thoughts was coming to fruition. I thought to myself, "how pleasant would it be to be the sun?" and you guessed it, I was then sitting high in the sky, shining down and illuminating the life I once lived. To my amazement, this job was hotter than being a blacksmith, the exact opposite of what I wanted. I turned and looked at the moon, thinking how cool and dark that job would be.

I've now been the moon for a little over a year now. It's almost as if the moon is the final job I will be able to do in my lifetime. Sometimes I smile, sometimes I frown... you'll always be able to tell my mood by looking up at me each and every night. Yes, that's me, the man in the moon. 

As I look back on the life I've lived, the many roles I've held, and all the troubles that came with each, I would give anything to go back to the life I lived as a blacksmith. That was truly the best life. I never realized how all of the discontentment was exactly the perfect life I was always meant to live. And, oh, how I wish I could go back to the hot, messy, and imperfect life of being a blacksmith.

Picture of a full moon

(Taken by Neven Krcmarek on Unsplash)

My prequel and sequel are additions to the origin story "The Man in the Moon" by Katherine Neville Fleeson. I wanted to change the overall tone of the story to be a narrative coming from the blacksmith/man turned into the moon. I added the addition of explaining the man's early childhood and the ending of the man explaining his life as being the moon. The concept I took away from the original story was that the man was never content, and I wanted that factor to be a main focal point in my original story. 

"The Man in the Moon" from Laos Folk-Lore by Katherine Neville Fleeson. Web source.