Page:Curious myths of the Middle Ages (1876).djvu/206

 he is said to turn round once. Others say that he stole willow bows, which he must bear for ever.

In Silt, the story goes that he was a sheep-stealer, who enticed sheep to him with a bundle of cabbages, until, as an everlasting warning to others, he was placed in the moon, where he constantly holds in his hand a bundle of these vegetables.

The people of Rantum say that he is a giant, who at the time of the flow stands in a stooping posture, because he is then taking up water, which he pours out on the earth, and thereby causes high tide; but at the time of the ebb he stands erect, and rests from his labour, when the water can subside again.

The Dutch household myth is, that the unhappy man was caught stealing vegetables. Dante calls him Cain:— “… Now cloth Cain with fork of thorns confine, On either hemisphere, touching the wave Beneath the towers of Seville. Yesternight The moon was round.”—Hell, cant. xx.