»The shepherd in the Moon« (Romania)

The Rumanian fairytale »The shepherd in the Moon« tells the story of a shepherd:

He once came to a rich nobleman and received the gift of a piece of land and a herd of sheep from him. He settled as shepherd and began to play beautiful melodies on his flute at night, which – as you’ll find out later – reminds him of his deceased beloved. These songs were so wonderful that all sheep gathered around him to listen, even the ones of the neighbouring shepherds. They now became envious of the flute player and tried to blacken his name with the nobleman. But when he stuck by the shepherd with the flute, the other shepherds made attempts on the life of the good shepherd and tried to kill him. He escaped and left the country full of grief and pain.  

Thereupon he asked God for help, who answered him and showed him the way to the Moon. On the way, the shepherd played again his flute until he reached the Moon, where he lost the flute in a lunar maria. His sheep rose up to the sky and turned into clouds. And because they never reached the Moon, they began to cry, which we experience as rain here on Earth. The shepherd turned into the man on the Moon. And the envious shepherds on Earth? They are continuously haunted by envy and resentment each full moon night and will never find peace as lunatics

Just like every fairytale, this story holds a message about humanity. If you are reigned by envy, you will always keep on searching – restless and haunted by your own shadow.

Let’s listen to the melodies instead …

1 Comment

  1. JJ | 22 April 2013

    Beautiful story!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Cookie Consent with Real Cookie Banner