The Moon’s Soul

A midnight dance offered to the moon. It wasn’t often she did that, but everytime she couldn’t fall asleep, she would go outside and walk under the moonlight. She often said that the moon was the master of her dreams. The soft light of the moon often had an appeasing effect on her. That night, she decided to dance as an offering for the moon who guarded her dreams for so many years. That’s when she saw it flying across the sky. A meteor lightened the celestial ceiling with a bluish white color just for a second. She stopped her dance to admire that bluish star falling on earth. Was it the moon thanking her for her performance, or was it simply telling her to stop? The light coming from the sky seemed to have landed somewhere close to her. She followed the direction it showed her. She arrived at a small pond. A pond she had never seen before even though she lived near it for all her life. The water in it was so calm and pure that it almost seemed as if it was a mirror reflecting the sky itself. She approached that magnificent pool of water. She extended her arm so she could touch it. However, she didn’t touch a liquide. It was a cold and solid floor of ice.

— A frozen pond in the middle of summer?

She wondered to herself, surprised by it. She had the deep desire to dance on this marvelous sparkling floor. She knew she shouldn’t, but it was as if the pond itself was calling her. She walked on the frozen surface until she got in the middle of the pond. She started dancing again. She was magnificent. She almost seemed to be a ray of moonlight dancing over the water. Truly a blessing to the eye. Just as we could expect, what needed to happen, happened. The ice disappeared under her feet and she fell in the cold water. It wasn’t as if it broke under her feet, it was more like if it had melted in the blink of an eye. As if the ice wasn’t there in the first place. As if time itself had stopped for a few seconds and retook its normal course at that precise moment. The water was piercingly cold, but she only felt a refreshing breath on her face and arms. For her, it wasn't like swimming in water, it was like floating in the sky with the moon. She realised she could touch the moonlike rock that was next to her. She extended her arm in the direction of that small moon and grazed it with her fingertips. An unknown energy went inside of her. She felt as if her whole body was changing. Her hair changed into a beautiful silvery color and grew longer. Her skin got paler. Even her eyes changed into a grayish color. She almost seemed to become the soul of the moon itself. Her body became lighter and she floated once again on the top of the pond. She looked around her with a new eye. Every turmoil of her soul had disappeared. She could only feel the blessing of the moon, a powerful magic that would never leave her from that day onward. Waves appeared around her, it was as if the water of the pond welcomed her as a new part of the moon. With a sigh of bliss she raised up to the moon, where she still lives today. It is said she’s now the moon’s soul. Pleasing her would be pleasing the moon. Some people said that she had died that day, in that pond, and her story is just the one her grieving father invented to appease his soul. Others said it is still possible to see her if we offer a dance to the moon when we can see it’s shining lights. They say we can see her dance with us from the corner of our eye. There’s also a story about the pond. Apparently, it can grant the blessing of the moon to the person who swims in it at midnight under the full moon. Someone else said that if we touch the moonlike rock hidden at the bottom of the pond, we can partially gain the power of the moon. So many stories, so many uncertainties. The only sure thing about this story is that no one knows where it comes from and if it tells anything true. However, whenever I see the moon I greet her with a dance as a sign of respect to its soul who, I like to believe, was once human. I always hope that one day her soul will grant me the blessing of her presence. What you do with this story is up to you. You can decide to believe it or discard it completely. I can’t force you to choose either way, but I do have to admit, I’d like to believe in the moon’s power and in its soul. Maybe one day, I might meet her and be her friend. I would greet her with a smile and a beautiful dance, not as pretty as hers, of course. We would dance together until the sun rises and the moon goes down. Night would let the day take its place and she would follow the moon wherever it goes. I wouldn't be fast enough to follow her, but I would know I would see her the next time I see the moon rise. Even the thought of it pleases me. The night has just arrived and the moon has appeared, so I'll leave you for now, because I need to say my greetings to the moon's soul.