The Girl in the Moon Folklore From Siberia


THERE was a poor little girl in the village. Her parents had just died.
She then had to live alone in her house. She could not eat properly.
At night, she was hungry. She had to sleep with her empty stomach.
The villagers felt sorry for her.

They wanted to do something to help her. However, they were also poor. They could not adopt her.
The villagers were discussing how to help the little girl.
“One of us has to adopt her. She is too young to live alone. She cannot take care of herself,“ said one villager.
“Yes...but who can afford to adopt her? We are poor,“ replied another villager.
“We are not equally poor. There must be the richest family among us,“ said another.
They all nodded. They then discussed who could take care of the poor little girl. They finally found one man. They all thought that he was the richest in the village. Well, the man could not say no. He finally brought the girl to his home.
The man's wife was so unhappy to see the little girl.

“We have to feed our own children and now we have to feed her?“ she asked her husband.
“You can ask her do things to help you,“ replied the man.
The woman could not argue her husband. After all, it was not his decision to take care of the girl. It was all the villagers' decision.

The girl thought that her life would completely different after she moved to the man's house.
Sadly, she was wrong. Her life was worse. She still could not eat properly and she still had to work hard.
After the girl stayed there, the man's wife did nothing. She always asked the girl to do the household chores.
The girl often cried. Her tears rolled down her beautiful face.
She had no one to talk about her problems.

At nights, the girl looked at the moon and told her about all her miserable life. The moon heard the girl's problem. She also felt sorry for her.

In one cold winter night, the woman asked the girl to get some water from the river. The little girl said, “Can I get it tomorrow morning? It's dark and also very cold outside.“

The woman was angry. “I don't care! If you don't get me some water, you have to leave this house now!“ The woman forced the girl to go out. The girl had no other choice.
She was terribly scared of her.

The little girl went to the river. She felt very cold and also hungry. She had not eaten all day. The woman always asked her to do things.

The little girl started to cry. She could not take the pain any lon ger. She looked up the moon and said, “Dear Moon...
P l e a s e t a ke m e now. I cannot live h e r e a ny m o r e . I cannot hold this pain.
Please take me. You are the only friend I have. Please, Moon...
take me away now.“

The moon looked down and heard the girl's cry. She really felt sorry for her. The moon slowly came down to the little girl and picked her up.

Since then the little girl lived happily in the moon. Parents in the village then told their children about a little girl who used to live on earth but then she lived happily in the moon. The story was passed down to generations until now. Media Indonesia, 13 Juli 2014, Halaman 20

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