THE NIGHT THE MERMAID STOLE THE MOON, by Donna Quattrone 2/2
In the meantime, the sun filled the spot the moon had held and marked the beginning of another day. On the shore, the land-bound folk fished in the surf and planted in the soil. Oblivious to them all, Anjiya woke and found the moon-treasure still in her arms. The moon recognized the glow of bliss in the mermaid’s eyes, and he was filled with joy. So wrapped up was each in the other that the moon forgot to return to his place in the sky.
The sun was the first to notice his absence, and she baked with rage at the moon’s betrayal. Deprived of her nocturnal partner, she had no choice but to continue with her vigilant shining. Many hours passed and, on the shore, the villagers did not know what to do. Without the turn of day and night, they knew not when to work or dream and so they slept where they stood and then woke, sunburned, as the day wore on and on. The streams ran low and the plants began to wither away, so the men built boats and took to the ocean, seeking the moon along the horizon, where it had last been seen.
They did not think to look beneath the waves, where Anjiya and the moon celebrated their love with song and long glances and dancing heartbeats. The sun, however, spotted her counterpart in the depths of the sea. She spoke, then, of dark and light and cold and warmth and ongoing balance. She begged the moon to return to its rightful place, and eventually the moon could no longer resist the call of the sun.
The moon embraced his mermaid lover and together they floated reluctantly upward. He kissed Anjiya long and deeply and then, with his moon-heart breaking, he burst through the surface of the waves. Trailing sea-spray, he rose into the darkening sky. Each drop of water that followed him into the night became a star. The moon, once again trapped in the spiral of time, looked down upon his love and said, "All of these stars are shining just for you."
“But you are gone,” she replied, “They are not enough.”
And the mermaid began to sing again. This time around, her song was of love and loss, of sadness and longing, and the men, sailing in their boats on top of the ocean, were drawn to that sound. They reached out to comfort Anjiya and when they were well within her grasp, she cradled them in her arms and brought them down, down, down.
Each night the mermaid rises to the surface of the water to sing to her lover. Each night the moon cries tears of loss and they, too, turn into stars. Anjiya recognizes those shiny objects for just what they are, trinkets that mark the distance between her and her beloved, cold comfort only, and so she reaches out to the sailors who would readily trade their love for a song.
If she cannot have the moon, she will collect their bones, instead. The piles of glistening whiteness lay scattered across the ocean floor.
And still Anjiya sings…
Donna Quattrone is a native of Bucks County, PA, where she plays with pencils and paint, wood things and words. Her muses often lead her down the path to an otherworld shaped by mythic fiction and fairy tale poetry, zoomorphic triskeles and knotwork that has no end. Her work can be read in print and online at the Cabinet des Fees and at Mytholog. Visit her Etsy shop at www.DQdesigns.etsy.com.
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