1. THE MOON CHARIOT
All English speaking children know the
story of Jack and Jill. It was probably one of the first stories that you
ever learned to say, and to read. Jack and Jill is one of the oldest nursery
rhymes, and has been known by English children throughout the centuries.
But this is about the Legends of the Northmen! How does it come about that
our first story is about these two old favorites of English-speaking children
everywhere? More than a thousand years ago in the cold lands of the North,
children used to listen to the same story, though the children in the story
then were not called Jack and Jill.
In the homes of the Vikings1, of whom you would have read in your
history books, in those far-away days when the great sea-raiders were at
home by the fire in the long winter evenings, they often told stories to
their children just as your father and mother told you "bed-time" stories
when you were young. Perhaps the father would be mending his fishing nets,
or perhaps he would be making things for use for when next he sailed the
seas for plunder. As he worked by the fire he would talk to the children;
or perhaps the mother, as she sat spinning, would tell the stories. But whoever
was the story teller in those little wooden houses by the side of the fiord,
the stories would nearly always be about the old Norse gods.
The story of Jack and Jill as we call them, was always a favourite
just as it is today. But in those days of centuries ago, in Norway or Denmark
as we now know these countries, instead of being called Jack and Jill the
names of the children were Hyuki2 and Bil3,
the moon maid. Strange names to you but these were the original names of the
little boy and girl who went "to fetch the pail of water".
Jack and Jill went
up the hill to fetch a pail of water,
Jack fell down and
broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after.
Up Jack got
and home did trot as fast as he could caper,
He went to bed to
mend his head with vinegar and brown paper.
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These people of the Northlands believed that the moon was a chariot driven
across the sky by one of the gods. They could not explain the passing of
the moon, or for that matter the sun, in any other way. The name of the moon
god was Mani4.
Day and night the people said Mani was always driving his great silver chariot,
only sometimes they could not see him for he was at the other side of the
world. In the same way Sol the Sun god drove his golden chariot.
This story is about the moon god, Mani. As you will understand, Mani was
often lonely, away there up in the sky, away from the other gods and even
from human beings.
Often he was very sad, for like you he wanted to talk to people, and all
that he could see were the people on earth going about their work. Unfortunately
Mani drove his chariot across the sky when most people had gone to bed, so
he was always very interested when he saw people still at work, or walking
across the hillsides. He often wondered what the people he saw were doing
and talking about, and he was always interested in what was going on5.
One house especially interested Mani for two children lived there and whenever
Mani passed over their home, he always made a special point of seeing what
was going on.
Sometimes in the long summer evenings he would see Hyuki and Bil playing,
but more often they were busy working for their father who was poor and very
strict. In the cold lands of the North everybody had to work, even if it
was only gathering in the haycrop, cutting wood, dragging timber from the
forest, or fishing in the deep waters of the fiord.
The father of Hyuki and Bil was called Vidfinner, and his house, built
of wood of course, was only a small one. It was built at the foot of a steep
hill and except for a few tiny fields, was in the midst of a great forest.
But high on the hillside away from the trees, was a spring. It was a magic
spring, not of water but of a wonderful drink called mead. So valuable was
this spring that a wall had to be built around it and the well was famous
for miles around. Anyone who drank the mead from this magic well was given
the gift of saying wonderful things and of making up marvellous songs and
poems6.It was Vidfinner's most valuable possession.
One dark night, when the moon's light was almost hidden from the earth by
dark clouds, Vidfinner sent Hyuki and Bil up the hillside to fetch him a
bucket full of the magic mead. Hyuki and Bil hurried off to do what their
father had told them, taking with them a wooden bucket, and a long pole so
that they could carry the load between them. Although it was such a dark
night, the children hurried up the hillside to fetch the bucketful of mead
for their father. At last they came to the well, and the clouds had lifted
a bit so that they could see the Moon Chariot of Mani shining down upon them.
Hyuki very carefuly lowered the empty bucket down the well, and then very
carefully tried to pull it up again. But, oh it was heavy, far too heavy
for Hyuki to pull to the top and far too heavy even when Bil also took
hold of the rope and pulled as well as her brother.They both pulled as hard
as they could, but the bucket scarcely seemed to be moving up from the well
at all. They had both been busy all the day, and the bucket full of mead
was really far too heavy a load for their young muscles to pull to the top
of the well. All this time just when Hyuki and Bil were struggling so valiantly
Mani was high overhead in his great silver chariot. He watched them for a
time and he felt very sorry for them, and he also felt he would like to talk
to these two young children who had always been favourites with him.
So Mani hurried from the sky to help the young people you now know as Jack
and Jill. When Hyuki and Bil saw this strange young man hurrying towards
them, they did not know who it could possibly be. They did not see many strangers
on their lonely farm by the sea, but they were not frightened for they could
see Mani was a friend for he looked so kind and gentle. Mani took hold of
the rope fastened to the bucket, and together they soon had the full bucket,
standing on the coarse grass around the top of the well. They were very thankful
to have such a strong helper for they knew how cross their father, Vidfinner,
would be if they were too long a time taking back the bucket full of mead
to their home.
They thanked Mani who stood smiling gently at them, and Hyuki placed the
bucket carefully in the middle of the long pole. Then he and Bil began to
carry their heavy load down the hill. Hyuki was a very thoughtful boy and
he did not want Bil to carry too much of the load, so he was perhaps a bit
too careful to take more than his full shareof the weight. The two children
had only gone a little way down the slippery hillside when they turned to
wave goodbye to Mani. By doing this a dreadful thing happened. Hyuki slipped,
the bucket fell off the pole, and he and Bil and the bucket of mead went
tumbling down the mountain side. Both of the children tried to keep on their
feet, but on the short, dew-wet grass it was impossible. Down they went,
Hyuki and Bil tumbling after him.
Before much of the valuable mead was spilled, Mani came hurrying after
them. When he reached the children, he picked up the bucket and dried Bil's
tears. But he knew how stern their father was, and how cross he would be at
the accident. So, partly because he was sorry for the children, and partly
because he was so lonely, Mani placed the two children in his moon chariot
and drove them across the sky, far, far away from their little home in the
cold Northland. They were in the chariot and away above the clouds before
they knew what was happening. At first of course they felt very strange but
Mani was so kind to them and their father had been so strict, that they were
quite happy to be in the strange silvery chariot.
That is the story the old Northmen used to tell their children,and of course,
they said that Hyuki and Bil were still with Mani the Moon god. perhaps they
told the story to make their children be careful when they had work to do,
or perhaps it was just one way of keeping them interested during the long
winter evenings. So, according to this old legend of the Northmen, you can
still see Hyuki and Bil, or Jack and Jill as you know them, on a moonlit
night, away there in the moon-the old Moon Chariot of the Norse legends.
All the time the two children walk up and down across the moon, carrying
their bucket in which their mead is still left. They may be trying to find
their way home, but time and time again they slip; down falls Hyuki, and
down falls Bil after him! Mani will never let them go home for he is too
fond of them and they are very good company.
Bil looks after the magic mead in the bucket , and every now and then she
lets a few drops of the magic song-mead fall down to earth. If any mortal
receives even a drop of this magic mead, then he or she becomes the kind
of person who can make up wonderful songs and verses. Perhaps someday you
will have some of the song-mead falling on you , and you will be able to
write verses and songs which people will enjoy.. perhaps you can see Hyuki
and Bil in the moon next time you are out of doors on a moonlit night!
Look out for them, and remember this old story, going back to hundreds of
years ago- the story of Jack and Jill, of Hyuki and Bil, the brother and
sister in the cold Northlands who set out that night so long ago to collect
that bucket full of magic mead. Don't you think it interesting that such
a simple story as Jack and Jill has come to us over the centuries? The Northmen
settled in many parts of Britain and it is quite likely that some of your
ancestors of a thousand years ago and more told to their children that old
nursery rhyme you once learned-of how Jack and Jill went to fetch the pail
of water!
Chapter
2.....Sif's
golden hair and the gift of the dwarfs.
Home
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Notes:
1. Anglian and Danish settlers to Britain settled lands most like their own
flat or rolling countryside as in Yorkshire, Northumberland, Lincolnshire
and East Anglia, whereas the Vikings of todays Sweden and Norway chose the
more mountainous or hilly lands of The North Yorkshire Wolds, Lincolnshire
Wolds, Pennines and Cumbria.
2.Ioke is a first name found today in the Netherlands and Denmark.
3.It is ironic that Bil could be Jill and is used as a diminutive of William
today
4.Mani today is moon, the moon cycles many times, and we use the word
many. Would "many moons ago" be a tautology?
5.The moon of course is also observable during the day during and
either side of a full moon.
6. The effects of ethanol on human behaviour are well known
Copyright © K.and T. Midgley 1999 Links revised
July 2023.