The Badger and the Man in the Moon

Once upon a time there was a badger who wanted to reach the man in the moon. She looked up to the sky and watched the moon’s graceful arc. She watched him rotate through the heavens and counted the days. She watched him fade from light to dark and back again.

Every night she watched the moon and wondered how to reach him. She envisioned herself climbing a ladder into the sky or clinging to the strings of a kite. The kite caught the wind and lifted her. It took her up to the moon and she lived with the man there forever.

But her feet remained on the ground. She traveled and jumped and climbed mountains, trying to reach the moon, but every time she found herself on the ground.

One night, when the moon shone only as a sliver in the sky, she climbed up a mountain and looked at the man there. She could only just see his face, but even in the dark he was beautiful, and as she looked at him she heard something falling around her. It sounded like the rain on a window, or like the tide in the ocean. It was faint and steady and spoke of urgency.

She looked around and saw a trickle of sand falling from the heavens. It came down through the sky and piled up there on the earth beside her.

“If only,” she said, “If only I could climb this ladder of sand.”

She knew the sand came from the hourglass the moon held and she knew her time was short. If she were to be with the man in the moon, she would have to get there tonight.

She placed her paws on the pieces of falling sand and tried to climb. Each foot followed the other as the grains trickled down, and each foot found itself on the ground once more.

The badger became desperate. She climbed faster, knowing that every grain meant one less second to reach the moon. If she did not reach the moon before the hourglass ran out, she would be stuck forever on the ground. She would be stuck on the ground and the moon would fade into the distance of space. Space would swallow it and she would be alone forever.

The wind whispered to her. It sang to her in the dark and told her of an alternative. The owls joined in and told of another way.

“Don’t do,” they said, “It has already been done.”

But the badger couldn't understand. She heard the words but did not believe them. It was up to her alone to reach the moon. She would conquer this ladder of falling sand and she would stand beside the man in the moon at the end.

As the night wore on she became tired. Her paws bled in the hill of sand and her eyes drooped. Her muscles ached. Her body refused to function. As she fell to the earth she let out a plea.

“Please save me,” she whispered to the man in the moon. Please save me because I cannot save myself.

Clouds filled her mind as she felt the last grains fall into her fur. The wind no longer sang a song of hope. The owls watched silently from their trees, and the badger gave herself up for lost.

But the man in the moon heard her cry. He came down from the heavens and lifted her as she gave up hope, and he carried her with him to the moon.