A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

After the eagle abandons Daniel, a door opens in the middle of the moon and its resident steps out. Daniel recognizes the familiar man in the moon by his bush. The figure converses, takes snuff and asks how the traveller arrived, but refuses to let him remain. Asked whether a large family leaves no room for a guest, he says he lives alone. This explicit exchange does not give him a wife, children or a wider lunar household.

Daniel clings to the reaping-hook and challenges the resident’s attempt to evict him. The man withdraws indoors, returns with a kitchen cleaver and strikes through the hook’s handle, sending Daniel tumbling earthward. His farewell is mocking rather than protective. The door, snuff and domestic tool give the episode a familiar household setting within an impossible journey. Its ending belongs to Daniel’s dream and awakening, not to a general explanation of lunar markings or an identity shared with moon beings in other traditions.

Moon dwelling with a doorHuman speechCuts the supporting reaping-hook
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Origins & earliest records

Daniel O’Rourke, XV, printed pp. 105–111, in T. Crofton Croker’s Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland, new edition, Philadelphia, Lea and Blanchard, 1844. The opening narrator claims to have heard the elderly Daniel near Hungry Hill on 25 June 1813; the tale ends with Daniel waking beneath Carrigaphooka’s walls.

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Records & interpretation

The selected complete narrative gives this figure speech and a specific role in Daniel’s journey. Its closing awakening frames the journey as a dream after drinking; the opening collector-style date is part of the published narrative frame, not independent corroboration of the adventure.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland, Daniel O’Rourke, XV, pp. 105–111

    T. Crofton Croker; narrative attributed in its frame to Daniel O’Rourke · 1844 selected edition

    Complete tale through Judy’s waking-water intervention; the edition’s preface describes a condensed forty-tale selection from earlier volumes.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Primary textCroker, 1844 selected edition: Daniel O’Rourke, XVResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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