Wind and the Moon

<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN> <h4 id="id00701" style="margin-top: 2em">THE WIND AND THE MOON</h4> <p id="id00702">Said the Wind to the Moon, "I will blow you out.<br/> You stare<br/> In the air<br/> Like a ghost in a chair,<br/> Always looking what I am about;<br/> I hate to be watched—I'll blow you out."<br/></p> <p id="id00703">The Wind blew hard, and out went the Moon.<br/> So deep,<br/> On a heap<br/> Of clouds, to sleep,<br/> Down lay the Wind, and slumbered soon—<br/> Muttering low, "I've done for that Moon."<br/></p> <p id="id00704">He turned in his bed; she was there again!<br/> On high<br/> In the sky<br/> With her one ghost eye,<br/> The Moon shone white and alive and plain.<br/> Said the Wind—"I will blow you out again."<br/></p> <p id="id00705">The Wind blew hard, and the Moon grew dim.<br/> "With my sledge<br/> And my wedge<br/> I have knocked off her edge!<br/> If only I blow right fierce and grim,<br/> The creature will soon be dimmer than dim."<br/></p> <p id="id00706">He blew and he blew, and she thinned to a thread.<br/> "One puff<br/> More's enough<br/> To blow her to snuff!<br/> One good puff more where the last was bred,<br/> And glimmer, glimmer, glum will go the thread!"<br/></p> <p id="id00707">He blew a great blast, and the thread was gone;<br/> In the air<br/> Nowhere<br/> Was a moonbeam bare;<br/> Far off and harmless the shy stars shone;<br/> Sure and certain the Moon was gone.<br/></p> <p id="id00708">The Wind, he took to his revels once more;<br/> On down<br/> In town,<br/> Like a merry-mad clown,<br/> He leaped and hallooed with whistle and roar,<br/> "What's that?" The glimmering thread once more!<br/></p> <p id="id00709">He flew in a rage—he danced and blew;<br/> But in vain<br/> Was the pain<br/> Of his bursting brain;<br/> For still the broader the Moon-scrap grew,<br/> The broader he swelled his big cheeks and blew.<br/></p> <p id="id00710">Slowly she grew—till she filled the night,<br/> And shone<br/> On her throne<br/> In the sky alone,<br/> A matchless, wonderful, silvery light,<br/> Radiant and lovely, the Queen of the night.<br/></p> <p id="id00711">Said the Wind—"What a marvel of power am I!<br/> With my breath,<br/> Good faith!<br/> I blew her to death—<br/> First blew her away right out of the sky—<br/> Then blew her in; what strength have I!"<br/></p> <p id="id00712">But the Moon, she knew nothing about the affair,<br/> For high<br/> In the sky,<br/> With her one white eye,<br/> Motionless, miles above the air,<br/> She had never heard the great Wind blare.<br/> <i>George Macdonald.</i><br/></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />