The Moonless Village

Prose by Frieney Josephine E. Pepino

Past seven mountains and seven seas, there exists a village that has seen no moon for many nights. The seasons have gone awry, and the fishermen cannot go to sea, for the moon pulls the tides, and they have no moonlight to guide them to the shore and beyond.

The local babaylan prays and sings atop the cliff that looms over the sea, the highest point in the village where she hopes the moon goddess will hear the woes of her subjects. But the goddess has not heard.

“Has Mayari forsaken us?” cried the villagers. “Without the moonlight that leads us to our homes when shadows come, what will be our fate? It is too late. We are ruined.”

Amid the chaos that plagues his village, the woodcutter Amir continues his work. One day, he encounters a girl in the woods. Instantly, Amir is stricken by her beauty. Her skin is the color of the earth, and is as rich, smooth, and supple as dewdrops.

Amir approaches the girl and after twenty meetings, they fall in love. He discovers that she is mysterious, without a name to call her by, without memories and without a home. But it doesn’t matter, for Amir calls her “my dearest love” or “sweetheart.” Amir tells her that they could create new memories together, and that he would offer her his home.

Another cruel week passes by, the disruption of the natural order continues without the moon. At night, the babaylan screams at the top of her lungs,

“The stars are gone! They have descended from their abode to search for their mistress!”

Amir comes home to behold a strong glow spilling from his windows. He finds out that the source of the light are the dozen maidens who stand before his hearth. They crowd around his beloved who is crying heavily.

His mysterious lover confesses that she is the moon goddess, and the luminous maidens are the stars, here to collect her at last.

Amir is heartbroken. “You lied to me! And for that, you are to vanish from my sight.” Love was not without truth, he thinks. And he feels betrayed.

“I was so lonely,” Mayari whispers to him. “Lovers pledged to me, asked me for my blessing. But I, myself, am alone, with no one to touch and to hold. In my sadness, I jumped from the heavens and lost my memories when I fell to the ground. It was not my intention to cause despair to your people. Right this instant, I will go home. But not before I tell you that I feel nothing but immense gratitude that you have shown me—what it is to love, and to be loved. Farewell, Amir.”

“Wait!” Amir reaches out to the goddess. “Please, stay.”

But of course, he does not say this. He cannot. For love is also not without sacrifice, nor forgiveness. Amir lets his beloved go, and the moon and the stars retake their rightful places in the night skies.