The Night of the Blue Moon and the Talking Animals

-          Shabana Chowdhury Ahmed, Belgium                                        

Once in a blue moon is an expression that signifies something which happens very rarely. Scientifically it's a phenomena whereby the moon appears to be bluish owing to the smoke of dust particles in the atmosphere. 

In folklore a blue moon night is magical. 

The story teller tells her tale. 

14th century Europe was a time of sailing ships. It was also a time of discovering new lands. Spain was a seafaring country. Strong young men would board the ships as sailors to work on them and seek marvellous adventures. Eric lived in Spain with his grandmother from childhood as his parents had died during the black plague.

The grandmother was a very loving and kind woman. As she had no children of her own, she loved Eric as her own son. His grandfather was also a sailor but died at sea on a stormy night, when Eric was 10 years old. 

Eric was sent to the Abbey to learn how to read and write. Father Noel was in charge of the young boys, who came to study Latin, Maths and Science. Eric had a thirst for knowledge and was quick at learning. In the evenings Father Noel told the boys many adventurous stories.

When Eric turned 15 years old, Father Noel found him a job on a ship as a cabin boy. The Captain was instructed by the Mayor and other Noblemen to search for undiscovered  lands.  

Days passed, nights passed. The sea was calm. The Captain took a liking to Eric as he was a clever and quick learner. Eric heard many adventurous stories from the Captain. One day while sorting out the documents in the Captain's desk drawer, Eric found the personal diary of

the Captain. Eric was intrigued by the diary and wanted to know, what adventures were written in it. The Captain smiled and told Eric to finish his chores and come back in the evening. Eric finished all his duties and came back to the Captain's office at sunset. 

The Captain was seated in his comfortable sofa and asked Eric to sit in front of him on a cushion chair. The Captain recounted that on one of his voyages while returning to Spain a sudden storm appeared out of nowhere and caused a havoc on the ship tearing it apart. Everyone on board fell into the ocean. Next morning the ocean was calm. The Captain found himself on an island. He had no notion of his whereabouts. He noticed some trees and walked towards them. He was so exhausted that he lost conscience again. When he regained his conscience, he saw some fruits on a large leaf near him. He ate the fruits without thinking where it came from. 

Night fell, the moon was full but it was the night of the blue moon. He was surprised to see a blue moon. He noticed a light shinning among the trees. He walked towards the trees hoping to find some natives. As he reached the burning fire, he saw some animals around the fire.

A fox looked at him and said "We will help you to make a boat, so you can return to your own kind. The Captain was speechless! How on earth was the fox speaking in the human language! An owl began speaking saying that a fairy cast a good spell on the animals on a blue moon night allowing them to speak in the human language. The Captain's astonishment knew no bounds! All night long the animals gathered wood and built a small boat. They filled the boat with fruits. They offered him coconut water in which a sleeping portion was added without his knowledge. He drank the coconut water and fell asleep. The elephant carried him with it's trunk and laid him on the boat and pushed it towards the ocean. 

A passing ship's crew saw the boat with a man drifting on the water. They rescued him and brought him on board the ship. The crew wanted to know, what had happened to him. He told them about the storm and how he was washed ashore on to the island of talking animals. The crew laughed at him not believing a word he said. On shore he travelled back to his grandmother's house. He recounted his story of the talking animals to his grandmother. She shook her head and said "Poor man has lost his mind!