How The Moon Came To Be-Australian Aboriginal Legend

One of the best known stories of Moon creation,this tale comes from the Northern Territory

Japara lived in the Dreamtime and was an excellent hunter. He had a wife and a little son whom he loved dearly. One day, when Japara was out on the plains hunting, a man called Parukapoli visited Japara's wife. He was a lazy man who preferred telling stories to hunting. That day he told many stories to Japara's wife and told them so cleverly that she forgot everything else as she listened and laughed. She even forgot her baby son who crawled out to a nearby stream and toppled in to the water. Japara's wife heared the splash and ran to the water, pulling the boy out, but it was too late, the child had drowned.

For many hours she sat by the stream, holding the little dead body in her arms and sobbing as she waited for Japara to return home. When Japara at last arrived and heard the story he was at first very sad but then he became extremely angry with his wife, blaming her for the loss of his precious boy. He took up his hunting weapons and in a blaze of anger, killed his wife. Then he had a fierce fight with Parukapoli. They fought for a long time but at last Parukapoli was also killed.

Japara was left with many painful wounds from his fight and a great sadness for the death of his child. The rest of the tribe saw that Japara was badly wounded and distressed but they were very angry with him. They gathered around shouting "You should not have killed your wife. She loved your boy very much and did not mean for such a terrible accident to happen."

Dispite his great distress, Japara slowly began to listen to his people and realised that was they said was true. He became very sorry for what he had done. He hurried to where he had left his poor dead wife and son but their bodies had disappeared. Immediately he understood that kind spirits had taken them away to finish their lives in some better place. He called to the spirits to forgive him for being so cruel and told them that he really loved his wife and wanted nothing more than to be with her and their little boy again.

The spirits heard his pleas and they knew he was telling the truth. They assured him that his wife and boy were safe with them in the sky world. They would allow Japara to leave the earth world too but as punishment for his cruel deeds he must search the lonely sky world until he found his family.

The story tellers say that the moon is the reflection of Japara's camp fire. The lines that are visible on the moon are the reminder of his scars. Some say the moon changes because Japara is forever changing camp as he moves across the dark sky world still searching for his family. Others believe that he has now found his wife and son and that they are exploring the mysterious sky world together