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Before the plague of people burdened the world, There was only the spirit of Hartsha. Hartsha was one with all that was the Earth. He knew what the animals were thinking, He knew where all the rivers flowed. He knew how many grains of sand were on every beach.

But he envied the sky.

The sky was free, It doesn't feed the plants or animals with it's body like the Earth.
The sky had no responsibility, It didn't have to stay strong to hold up the mountains.
The sky could be independent, it didn't have to mold to and support the oceans.

Hartsha looked to the birds for a way to join the sky, but the birds said that the sky was not his place. Hartsha tried to fly like the winged creatures anyway. He built wings out of leafs and tree sap, but they were to flimsy and the sap was so sticky that it simply anchored him to the ground further than before.

He looked to the mountains to ask them how they grew into the clouds, but the mountains simply said that they were born to do such things, and that Hartsha was not. But Hartsha was determined, so he scaled the tallest mountain only to realize that he was still on the mountain, and not in the sky, no matter how high the mountains grew they were still part of the earth too.

Hartsha asked the sands of the deserts how they got blown into the sky, but sands said that they did not do it on purpose, that they were lifted into the sky by the breath of the sky. Harsha began to ponder this idea and soon devised a way to be taken with the sand. He thought of the birds and their wings, He thought of the mountains and their tremendous height. He thought of the sands and the wind that carried them to freedom.

Hartsha combined all of his wisdom and found a way to reach his dream. He climbed the tallest mountain again, and donned his leaf and sap wings. He jumped and was lifted off the ground. Harsha was in the sky! But the earth was mad and pulled him out of the sky and back to it's surface. Hartsha realized that the Earth was not going to let it's spirit fly into the sky. Hartsha sat on the ground and cried because he knew he would never soar with the birds, or fly circles around the tips of the mountains. He stayed on the top of the mountain for a long time. He stayed through blizzards. He stayed through the snow so long that he was stained white. He stayed through the hail so long that it made holes in his wings. He stayed and shivered from the cold winds. Until Hartsha stood suddenly. Hartsha had forgotten about the winds! Hartsha waited for the next blizzard at the very tip of the mountain.

The biggest blizzard yet was blowing the next day. Hartsha spread his wings made from pieces taken from the earth, and the wind filled them with it's breath. Hartsha tried to push away from the earth, but the Earth did not want it's spirit to leave. Hartsha pushed away from the earth with all his might, and the wind lifted him, pulled him, coveted him and Harthsa was pulled into the sky. Flying, and soaring, and living in the sky free and immersed in his dream being realized. He stayed there for many a years. Then one day he realized something.

Hartsha was terribly alone. There were no more animals to speak with. There were no more oceans to converse with. There were no more forests to hold a conversation with. Hartsha began to miss the earth. But he could no longer return to the earth, for the earth has shun him for his betrayal and the sky would not let him go.

Hartsha began to cry over his ruined body, his tears were also stained white and stayed fixed to where they fell. Hartsha gathered his knees to him and held them close because he had no one else to hold. He stayed there in the sky and wrapped his beaten and punctured wings around his balled up body to keep warm from the sky's cold breath. And his sadness turned the sky dark. Every day he tries to return to earth only to miss and disappear behind the horizon taking his veil of sad darkness with him, revealing the sun once more.

So Hartsha stays forever in the sky abandoned by the earth, and yet still part of it's spirit.





This is a story of how the spirit of the earth named Hartsha became our moon.

By: Mikuru_gekiru ^_^