“You have been a very
naughty moon!” chided the earth.
But the moon just smiled
playfully. It always did. Because it knew that the earth never really meant
that from its core. It knew that the earth loved it above all the celestial
beings. It knew that the earth used to go around looking for it whenever it didn’t
see it. It knew that the earth cared. And that is exactly what made the moon
take so many liberties with the earth. The comets often complained about the
earth’s indulging behaviour towards the moon. But no one took the comets seriously.
They cometh, they leave. The stars scolded the earth for spoiling the moon by
letting it get away with all its funny frolics and comic capers. But then they
twinkled away when ignored by the earth. And then one night ... a most miserable
mishap took place.
The moon, which loved to
play hide and seek with the earth, went hiding behind Jupiter. Oh! Jupiter is
kind. It wasn’t him that was the problem. Or his size. And you really must not
judge people according to their size. Because in the celestial world, the
bigger the better. It was the awful asteroid! The asteroid didn’t have any
sense of direction. It used to run against many planets and celestial objects. A
headless chicken no less! And for a reason best known to asteroids, they were
always in a state of hurry. It was this very state of hurry that made the
asteroid crash with the moon! The moon, before it could even sense what
happened, went rolling down. Luckily Jupiter caught its fall. See, what did I
tell you about not making fun of large sizes? Suddenly the universe went still.
Everyone knew the earth’s love for the moon. Everyone knew that the earth was
looking for the moon again as it was hiding, hoping to be found. Everyone knew
that the earth will throw up fire from its core, should anything happen to its
beloved moon.
But the wail of the moon!
In the cold stillness of the universe the wail of the moon was heard beyond
stars. The earth rushed towards the moon, rushed towards Jupiter. Jupiter was
nursing the moon and it perfectly understood what the earth must have been
going through as it had many moons of its own and each one was as dear as the
other. The earth wept, cuddled, hugged and kissed the moon. The moon had been
scarred for life. Dark patches. But the earth kissed them all. The toughie that
Jupiter was, looked on with moist eyes.
The earth thanked Jupiter,
carried the moon in its arms and went back to its abode on the solar system.
But it was no more going to risk any such misadventures of the mischievous moon.
So, it borrowed a special glue from Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. It
bound the moon to itself with that glue. Now the moon could roam in space
freely but only as far as the earth would let it go, which frankly wasn’t too
far at all. That glue was invisible but very strong. How strong, you ask? Well,
so strong is that glue that even after all these many millions of years the
moon is still bound to the earth. And Jupiter still has a little red spot
marked where the moon fell.
If only we could love and
care for each other as much as the celestial beings ...
