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The Girl Who Lived on The Moon
(2012)(The second book in the Storytellers series)
A Novella by Frank Delaney
"Once upon a time there was a girl who lived on the moon." And when she comes to earth on a moonbeam, and grants the human race insights that would delight a Jungian and calm a six-year-old to sleep, we must wonder if times were different then, when "fish danced the polka on the surface of the sea and the birds said their prayers out loud."
"A good story, well told, makes children of us all." Bestselling author Frank Delaney's second installment of Storytellers continues the tradition of the great traveling storytellers, who practiced their skills across so many lands since before the invention of time. Beginning with The Druid, Storytellers celebrates a craft, that while recognized as Irish, finds within it elements that transcend borders and time.
The Storytellers series of short stories heralds the launch of Frank Delaney's The Last Storyteller (February 2012), the third in the trilogy of the Novels of Ireland. The novels trace the myths and legends of Folklore collector, Ben McCarthy, and thirty years of changes, troubles and growth in the middle of Twentieth Century Ireland.
As to the Girl on the Moon... if a child should ask whether the story is true, Delaney's answer is just as it should be: "Well, of course it's true; if I believed otherwise, why would I trouble to invent it?"
This short story also includes the first chapter from Delaney's latest novel The Last Storyteller.
An excerpt from The Girl Who Lived on The Moon:
She had a magical journey. Riding a moonbeam is like sliding down a very, very smooth mountain - it's like having a wonderful slide for a long time, except that everything is warm, not hot, but a kind of gentle warmth, that makes one a little sleepy. I myself have never done it but I have met many people who have. At about halfway down, in order to manage the arrival on earth, the people working in the Moonbeam Transport Company lull the traveler into a deep sleep, which they fill with dreams. Let me tell you about the things she saw before she slept.
As you know, the space between here and the moon - and we call it "space" - is blue, a beautiful color blue, somewhere between navy and royal. Everything that enters this space has to be of a different color; otherwise you wouldn't be able to see it. We would have no idea of the things that are up there had it not been for the moonbeam travelers who have been kind enough to tell us - and this is a list of what Luna saw.
A monkey, with a very long tail, perhaps more than a hundred yards long; he propelled himself through space by coiling the tail and whipping it open, which kind of thrust him forward. He waved to Luna as he passed by. A unicorn, but not like the kind we hope to see - if I came into this house and told you there was a unicorn in the yard, you'd rush to the door and you'd expect to see a creature the size of a horse out there, pawing the ground and maybe snorting a little. No, this unicorn was huge - as big as a cathedral.
Now the other thing you'd expect if you saw a unicorn out there in the yard is that he'd be white. Well, this unicorn was anything but white. Have you noticed the way that a rhinoceros's hide overlaps in huge scales? Well, this unicorn was built like that - it was almost as though he wore plates of armor, with each plate a different shimmering color. There was red, there was turquoise, there was lavender, there was a yellow brighter than the sun, there was a green sharper and greener that all the fields of Ireland. And the other thing about this unicorn was something you would hope to see in a horse but never quite do - this unicorn smiled, and he smiled at Luna...
Genre: Literary Fiction
"A good story, well told, makes children of us all." Bestselling author Frank Delaney's second installment of Storytellers continues the tradition of the great traveling storytellers, who practiced their skills across so many lands since before the invention of time. Beginning with The Druid, Storytellers celebrates a craft, that while recognized as Irish, finds within it elements that transcend borders and time.
The Storytellers series of short stories heralds the launch of Frank Delaney's The Last Storyteller (February 2012), the third in the trilogy of the Novels of Ireland. The novels trace the myths and legends of Folklore collector, Ben McCarthy, and thirty years of changes, troubles and growth in the middle of Twentieth Century Ireland.
As to the Girl on the Moon... if a child should ask whether the story is true, Delaney's answer is just as it should be: "Well, of course it's true; if I believed otherwise, why would I trouble to invent it?"
This short story also includes the first chapter from Delaney's latest novel The Last Storyteller.
An excerpt from The Girl Who Lived on The Moon:
She had a magical journey. Riding a moonbeam is like sliding down a very, very smooth mountain - it's like having a wonderful slide for a long time, except that everything is warm, not hot, but a kind of gentle warmth, that makes one a little sleepy. I myself have never done it but I have met many people who have. At about halfway down, in order to manage the arrival on earth, the people working in the Moonbeam Transport Company lull the traveler into a deep sleep, which they fill with dreams. Let me tell you about the things she saw before she slept.
As you know, the space between here and the moon - and we call it "space" - is blue, a beautiful color blue, somewhere between navy and royal. Everything that enters this space has to be of a different color; otherwise you wouldn't be able to see it. We would have no idea of the things that are up there had it not been for the moonbeam travelers who have been kind enough to tell us - and this is a list of what Luna saw.
A monkey, with a very long tail, perhaps more than a hundred yards long; he propelled himself through space by coiling the tail and whipping it open, which kind of thrust him forward. He waved to Luna as he passed by. A unicorn, but not like the kind we hope to see - if I came into this house and told you there was a unicorn in the yard, you'd rush to the door and you'd expect to see a creature the size of a horse out there, pawing the ground and maybe snorting a little. No, this unicorn was huge - as big as a cathedral.
Now the other thing you'd expect if you saw a unicorn out there in the yard is that he'd be white. Well, this unicorn was anything but white. Have you noticed the way that a rhinoceros's hide overlaps in huge scales? Well, this unicorn was built like that - it was almost as though he wore plates of armor, with each plate a different shimmering color. There was red, there was turquoise, there was lavender, there was a yellow brighter than the sun, there was a green sharper and greener that all the fields of Ireland. And the other thing about this unicorn was something you would hope to see in a horse but never quite do - this unicorn smiled, and he smiled at Luna...
Genre: Literary Fiction
Used availability for Frank Delaney's The Girl Who Lived on The Moon