Once

They spoke of her as a mother who watched over her children, some said she was a beautiful lass about to be married off to a rich king, others said she was just a kind goddess with a generous heart towards children and so it went on...
There is one thing I remember from my childhood as a young boy in my village, the folk tales about the lady in the full silvery bright moon which hung in the sky at night in all her splendor, she seemed to truly watch over us.

My friends and I would usually wait for a full moon to gather around at night and play. Sometimes, the elders would gather us to sit in a group around sometimes dimly lit oil lamps to tell us stories from generations past in the cool night. Sometimes, there were feasts, lots of dancing and singing. We always looked forward to this as it was always a lot of fun.

On every other night when there wasn't a full moon, mostly everyone minded their own businesses, families ate in the solitude of their houses and my friends weren't allowed to come out to play. The women didn't light big fires to prepare a feast, the singing and dancing were minimal. The night air would always be laden with an eerie silence.

So on nights like these, I'd look up into the skies and ask the lady in the moon to shine down once more and shower us all with her joyful presence and I was always happy whenever I finally did see a full moon afterwards.