Origin: Mexican

Theme: The feminine cannot be controlled or dominated.

The Sun, el Sol, loved the Moon, la Luna. He thought she was so pale and lovely, that he longed to have her for his wife.

“You are more lovely than the closes in the sky and more shapely than the roundest melon. Please me mine and marry me,” Sun said.

Moon looked at sun, but said nothing aloud. To herself she said, “Hmmmm, the sun wants to marry me. He is so handsome and so powerful. It might be wonderful to have him as my husband. He could do great things for me. Give me everything I have every wanted. But, I don=t know, I love being by myself in the midnight sky. There are meteors to race against, stars to reflect and planets to inspire me.”

After thinking of all this she was ready to talk to the moon and give him her answer, “I will marry you under one circumstance. You must give me some beautiful clothing, huipiles covered with stitching, white blouses with borders of ribbon, and a long skirt that will float in the night. And it is very, very important that these clothes are exactly my size.”

Sun was very excited, and even though he was tired staying up all day heating the earth and lighting the sky, he decided to stay up all night and gaze at the beautiful Moon to choose the right gift. He couldn’t decide what clothes to get for her. Of course, the sun was all powerful and could get the Moon anything, but he wanted it to be just right.

The next night he tried to get more information on what she would like. Sun said, “You will be more beautiful when you are my wife. I want to get you just the right thing. I can bring you anything. Please tell me what you would like, mi amor.”

“Oh, you have to come up with the idea your self. This is your test to figure out what I really want. You have to decide,” Moon said, as she laughed and then hid herself under a cloud.

Moon decided to give her a skirt woven with golden threads and delicate strips of starlight.

“She is going to like this so much, she will fall at my feet to be my bride,” Sun said as he wrapped the skirt in a package of moon beams.

But when Sun saw Moon again, he was shocked to see that how skinny Moon was. She was just a sliver of her former self.
“Ay, mi amor!” he cried, “What happened to you, you are so skinning. You must be sick for your great love for me.”

Sun raced to his special tailor and had him alter the skirt to match Moon’s new slender shape. It took awhile and a week had passed when he returned to Moon with the altered skirt. He was so excited and knew it would fit perfectly.

“Moon will love this, and now she will be my wife. We will be married tomorrow,” Sun yelled aloud with his excitement.

But when he found Moon, she was no fat. She couldn’t get the skirt over her hips.

“Ouch, this size is wrong. You give me a skirt that is pinching the light out of me. What kind of future husband are you!” Moon screamed.

“Ay, mi amor, you have gotten a little plumb, but don’t worry. We can still be married. It ‘will fit just right when I get back. Don’t be mad at me. I love you so, even though you have become fat. Your beauty shines through,” beseeched Sun as he sped away to have the skirt fixed.

Sun had to search for his tailor, but finally found him in the mountains. The tailor added panels of light from the lightning in the mountains so that the skirt would be big enough for Moon=s big hips.

But when Sun returned the next week, Moon was even fatter. Moon tried it on.

“What do you think of me? That I am flat light a tortilla. I can’t get into the skirt. How could you think I would fit into this,” Moon said in a cold, angry voice.

For thirty days, all month long, Sun kept trying to get the skirt altered so that it would fit Moon. But she was always changing. No matter how hard he tried to measure her, it would not work. It was always too small and too tight.

Sun was never able to marry Moon, because he could not meet her conditions. So he gave up in sadness. But before he goes to sleep every night he always looks at moon and loves her slivery light no matter how skinny or round she is. Sun sighs a sad sound of unrequited love, but at the same time Moon giggles that she is free.