Week 11 Story, The Boy and the Moon

The Boy and the Moon

Image Source : goodfon

Once upon a time, long, long ago, in a village hidden in the leaves, lived four brothers and a sister. Next door to the siblings, lived a young boy named Hamura. Hamura’s mother, Kaguya was very protective of her son and did not allow him to hunt or play with the other kids. 

Despite Kaguya’s efforts to keep her son away from the other kids, Hamura fell in love with the girl next door. 

One night, Hamura snuck out to visit the girl. They laid in the field, and gazed at the stars. They wondered what it would be like to have something light up the night sky, the same way the sun does in the day. 

Kaguya noticed her son wasn’t in his room and set out to find him. When she reached the field, she was furious with what she saw. “Get away from my son!” she yelled. Kaguya grew more and more angry. Filled with rage, she chased after the kids. 

Hearing the commotion, the four brothers ran to the field to see what was going on. Upon reaching the field, they saw Kaguya grab their sister and throw her towards the sky. They ran to catch her but she did not fall back down. The brothers begged Hamura to help their sister. 

Hamura was fearful of his mother’s rage but knew he had to help his love. So, he jumped as high as he could and got close enough to pull the girl down. However, he did not notice his mother was right behind him. She tried to grab the girl and throw her farther into the sky but Hamura managed to push the girl down to her brothers.

Kaguya and Hamura kept soaring higher and higher into the sky. Hamura knew his mother’s rage would not go away. He grabbed his mother and prayed to the gods to protect his friends in the village. The gods answered and turned Kaguya into a huge gray rock. Hamura stayed with his mom, and kept an eye on her in order to keep his friends safe.

From then on, the girl would step outside and gaze at the moon. She remembered the conversation she had with Hamura and knew he was up there keeping an eye on her.

Author's note: This is a retelling of the Boy in the Moon from the Alaskan legends unit. The original story is about a boy who fell in love with a girl. One day, the girl took some food and left the house. She noticed a ladder that led up to the sky. She climbed the ladder and the boy saw her far in the sky. When he began to climb the ladder, the girl floated away and the boy followed her. They became the sun and the moon. I also changed the characters to a few from Naruto and told a different story of how the moon came to be from that series.

Bibliography: The Boy in the Moon, by Katharine Berry Judson story link

Here is a link to Kaguya's story : Kaguya Otsutsuki