Writers & Publishers

from the album Modern Pressure 路Lyrics Terms of Use

For its 29th episode of season 6, Have Gun - Will Travel presents a very poetic show called The Lady of the Fifth Moon. A few thoughts about this episode, and they follow. –This episode is just strewn with words of whimsy and love’s poems. The Tang dynasty reigned 618-906 A.D. “The Spreading Halls of Crystal Cold”: The goddess of the ice also has her habitation in the moon. The hare in the moon is a favorite figure. He grinds the grains of maturity or the herbs that make the elixir of life. The rain-toad Tschan.

DANCING ON THE MOON

Jimmie Rodgers

Early one Texas morning in Nineteen-Twenty-Two
Johnny moved West to build him a nest and find things to do
People who knew him didn't pursue him, they left him alone
Johnny has gone away, wait for another day, he'll come home

Johnny he told his lady, 'Mary, I'll see you soon'
I'm goin' away to find a place to stay, I'm gonna dance on the Moon
One of these days when I change my ways, I'll come back here
Though you are lonely, wait for me only, Mary, my dear

She said, 'Johnny come back, I'm a woman full grown'
She said, 'Johnny come back, I don't wanna be alone'

Johnny went away and Mary waited as long as she could
She tried to make it, but she couldn't take it anymore, it wasn't good
Men in the town all waited around till Mary passed by
Mary decided since her love was divided, she'd give it a try

She said, 'Johnny come back, I'm a woman full grown'
She said, 'Johnny come back, I don't wanna be alone'

Ev'ry man claimed her, nobody tamed her, no man could
She had the eyes of an angel and a heart that was made of wood
Johnny was gone and the music played on to a different tune
While it was playin' Mary danced on the Moon

She said, 'Johnny come back, I'm a woman full grown'
She said, 'Johnny come back, I don't wanna be alone'

Late in October, the year was Nineteen-Twenty-Five
Johnny was found on the edge of town, more dead than alive
They carried him down and brought him around to Mary's room
While he was dying he whispered, 'Mary, I danced on the Moon'

She said, 'Johnny come back, I'm a woman full grown'
She said, 'Johnny come back, I don't wanna be alone'
'Johnny come back, I'm a woman full grown'
'Johnny come back, I don't wanna be alone'

Early the very next day they lowered his body down
Mary was dressed in black and the cool wind blew her skirts around
Ev'ryone watched her, nobody touched her and nobody said a word
Then like an angel dressed in white her voice was heard

She said, 'Johnny come back, I'm a woman full grown'
'Johnny come back, I don't wanna be alone'
She said, 'Johnny come back and we'll play a different tune'
She said, 'Johnny come back and we'll dance on the Moon'

Dance on the Moon
We'll dance on... FADE

Chang'e (Chinese: 嫦娥; pinyin: Cháng'é) or Chang-o, originally known as Heng'e,^{[note 1]} is the Chinese goddess of the Moon. She is the subject of several legends in Chinese mythology, most of which incorporate several of the following elements: Houyi the archer, a benevolent or malevolent emperor, an elixir of life, and the Moon. She is married to the archer Houyi. In modern times, Chang'e has been the namesake of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program.

Tales[edit]

There are many tales about Chang'e, including a well-known story that is given as the origin of the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival.^[1] In a very distant past, ten suns had risen together into the skies and scorched the earth, thus causing hardship for the people.^[1] The archer Yi shot down nine of them, leaving just one sun, and was given the elixir of immortality as a reward.^[1] He did not consume it straight away, but let Chang'e keep it with her, as he did not want to gain immortality without his beloved wife Chang'e.^[1] However, while Yi went out hunting, his apprentice Fengmeng broke into his house and tried to force Chang'e to give him the elixir; she refused and to prevent him from getting it, drank it.^[1] Chang'e then flew upward toward the heavens, choosing the Moon as residence, as she loved her husband and hoped to live nearby him.^[1] Yi discovered what had transpired and felt sad, so he displayed the fruits and cakes that Chang'e had liked, and gave sacrifices to her.^[1]

Chang'e appears in Wu Cheng'en's novel Journey to the West.

Worship[edit]

The recently rediscovered divination text Guicang contains the story of Chang'e as a story providing the meaning to Hexagram 54 of the I Ching, 'Returning Maiden'.^[2]

On Mid-Autumn Festival, the full Moon night of the eighth lunar month, an open-air altar is set up facing the Moon for the worship of Chang'e. New pastries are put on the altar for her to bless. She is said to endow her worshippers with beauty.

Space travel[edit]

Chang'e was mentioned in a conversation between HoustonCAPCOM and the Apollo 11 crew just before the first Moon landing in 1969:

The Old Woman And The Moon

Ronald Evans (CC): Among the large headlines concerning Apollo this morning, is one asking that you watch for a lovely girl with a big rabbit. An ancient legend says a beautiful Chinese girl called Chang-O has been living there for 4,000 years. It seems she was banished to the Moon because she stole the pill of immortality from her husband. You might also look for her companion, a large Chinese rabbit, who is easy to spot since he is always standing on his hind feet in the shade of a cinnamon tree. The name of the rabbit is not reported.

Michael Collins (CMP): Okay. We'll keep a close eye out for the bunny girl.^{[note 2]}

In 2007, China launched its first lunar probe, a robotic spacecraft named Chang'e 1 in the goddess' honour. A second robotic probe, named Chang'e 2, was launched in 2010.^[3] A third Chang'e spacecraft, called Chang'e 3, landed on the Moon on 14 December 2013, making China the third country in the world to achieve such a feat after the former Soviet Union and the United States. The lander also delivered the robotic rover Yutu ('Jade Rabbit') to the lunar surface. On 3 January 2019, Chang'e 4 touched down on the far side of the Moon and deployed the Yutu-2 rover.^[4]

Notes[edit]

1. ^The name Heng'e was changed to Chang'e due to a taboo character from a name of Emperor Wen of Han.
2. ^NASA transcripts had attributed the response to Aldrin (Apollo 11 Technical Air-to-Ground Voice Transcription. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Page 179), but corrected NASA transcripts attribute it to Collins (Woods, W. David; MacTaggart, Kenneth D.; O'Brien, Frank. 'Day 5: Preparations for Landing'. The Apollo 11 Flight Journal. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Retrieved 26 June 2018.)

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abcdefgYang & An 2005, 89-90 & 233.
2. ^Shaughnessy, Edward L. (2014). Unearthing the Changes: Recently Discovered Manuscripts of the Yi Jing ( I Ching) and Related Texts. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 154. ISBN0231533306.
3. ^Clark, Stephen (1 October 2010). 'China's second moon probe dispatched from Earth'. Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
4. ^Rivers, Matt (January 3, 2019). 'China lunar rover successfully touches down on far side of the moon, state media announces'. CNN. Retrieved January 3, 2019.

Bibliography[edit]

• Yang, Lihui; An, Deming (2005). Handbook of Chinese mythology. Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio. ISBN1-57607-806-X.

Further reading[edit]

• Allan, Tony, Charles Phillips, and John Chinnery, Land of the Dragon: Chinese Myth, Duncan Baird Publishers, London, 2005 (through Barnes & Noble Books), ISBN0-7607-7486-2
• Laing, Ellen Johnston, 'From Thief to Deity: The Pictorial Record of the Chinese Moon Goddess, Chang E' in Kuhn, Dieter & Stahl, Helga, The Presence of Antiquity: Form and Function of References to Antiquity in the Cultural Centers of Europe and East Asia. Wuerzburg, 2001, pp. 437-54. ISBN3927943223

External links[edit]

• Media related to Chang'e at Wikimedia Commons

Moon Farms