Author | Rosemary Harris |
---|---|
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Series | Egyptian trilogy |
Genre | Children's fantasy novel, historical fantasy |
Publisher | Faber and Faber |
Publication date | 1968 |
Media type | Print (hardcover) |
Pages | 176 pp (first edition) |
ISBN | 0571086705 |
OCLC | 41022 |
823/.9/14 | |
LC Class | PZ7.H2437 Mo [1] |
Followed by | The Shadow on the Sun |
The Moon in the Cloud is a light-hearted children's historical fantasy novel by Rosemary Harris, published by Faber in 1968. It is set in ancient Canaan and Egypt at the time of the Biblical Flood and rooted in the story of Noah's Ark. It is the first book of a series sometimes called the Egyptian trilogy, followed by The Shadow on the Sun (1970) and The Bright and Morning Star (1972).
Harris won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject. [2]
Macmillan published the first US edition in 1969. [1]
The Moon in the Cloud was adapted for television in 1978.
When the Lord God decides to send a flood, he instructs Noah to build an Ark and save his family and the animals. Noah gives his reprobate son Ham the responsibility of collecting two cats from Kemi, the Black Land (Egypt), and two lions, but Ham passes the task to his neighbour Reuben by promising to persuade Noah to let Reuben and his wife on the Ark.
Reuben travels to Kemi with his camel Anak, his cat Cefalu and his dog Benoni. In the desert they are captured by the High Priest of Sekhmet, who is impressed by Cefalu's sacred heritage. He houses the cat in the Temple of Sekhmet in Kemi's capital Men-nofer, where Cefalu falls in love with the resident temple cat Meluseth. Reuben is presented as a slave to the music-loving King, who becomes his friend. However, he despairs of returning home until a 'supernatural' display arranged by the High Priest of Ptah backfires. Panic and rioting in the streets give Reuben a chance to escape and rescue his animals. Meluseth joins them.
On the way back, Cefalu persuades the lion Aryeh to come to the Ark. They meet Thamar, who has camped in the desert to escape the attentions of Ham and has meanwhile rescued a lost lion cub. They return home with the two cats and the two lions only to encounter treachery from Ham. However, a providential accident secures them a place of safety just as the rain begins to fall.
In the author's note, Rosemary Harris says the book is set in the Egyptian Old Kingdom, during the VIth Dynasty. At that time Upper and Lower Egypt had long been united with Men-nofer as the capital. The Flood is not fixed in historical time, and its being placed here tends to confirm the suspicion of some of the characters that it will be a merely local affair. The author cites several scholarly sources on Egypt and says that she has tried to avoid slips in the historical background, but "if there are some, I shall make the cowardly excuse that most writers on ancient Egypt blandly disagree on detail, right down to the spelling of names". [3]
A review in the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books of March 1973 refers to the "sophisticated humor" of the novel, [4] while another review of a later book by the author calls The Moon in the Cloud a "magical children's classic". [5] John Rowe Townsend in a discussion of created worlds says the author "created an Ancient Egypt that (it seems safe to say) never was... Talking animals are the least of the improbabilities." (However, it should be explained that the 'speech' of the animals is intended only as a representation of animal communication, which Reuben understands – these are not talking animals in the Narnian sense.) Townsend clearly appreciates the humour of the book and its sequels, referring particularly to the "delicate irreverence" with which the story of Noah's Ark is presented. [6]
Beside winning the 1968 Carnegie Medal for British children's books, [2] The Moon in the Cloud was named a Horn Book Fanfare Best Book by the editors of the Horn Book Magazine in 1971. [7]
The novel was adapted for the children's television series Jackanory in 1978, with Ian McKellen as the reader. [8]
Noah appears as the last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible, the Quran and Baha'i writings. Noah is referenced in various other books of the Bible, including the New Testament, and in associated deuterocanonical books.
Noah's Ark is the ship in the Genesis flood narrative through which God spares Noah, his family, and examples of all the world's animals from a global deluge. The story in Genesis is repeated, with variations, in the Quran, where the Ark appears as Safinat Nūḥ and al-fulk.
Memphis or Men-nefer was the ancient capital of Inebu-hedj, the first nome of Lower Egypt that was known as mḥw ("north"). Its ruins are located in the vicinity of the present-day village of Mit Rahina, in markaz (county) Badrashin, Giza, Egypt. This modern name is probably derived from the late Ancient Egyptian name for Memphis mjt-rhnt meaning "Road of the Ram-Headed Sphinxes".
In Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet, is a warrior goddess as well as goddess of medicine.
Ptah is an ancient Egyptian deity, a creator god and patron deity of craftsmen and architects. In the triad of Memphis, he is the husband of Sekhmet and the father of Nefertem. He was also regarded as the father of the sage Imhotep.
Nefertem or in Coptic ⲛⲉϥⲧⲏⲙ was, in Egyptian mythology, originally a lotus flower at the creation of the world, who had arisen from the primal waters. Nefertem represented both the first sunlight and the delightful smell of the Egyptian blue lotus flower, having arisen from the primal waters within an Egyptian blue water-lily, Nymphaea caerulea. Some of the titles of Nefertem were "He Who is Beautiful" and "Water-Lily of the Sun", and a version of the Book of the Dead says:
Rise like Nefertem from the blue water lily, to the nostrils of Ra, and come forth upon the horizon each day.
Bastet or Bast was a goddess of ancient Egyptian religion, worshipped as early as the Second Dynasty. Her name also is rendered as B'sst, Baast, Ubaste, and Baset. In ancient Greek religion, she was known as Ailuros.
Children of Eden is a 1991 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by John Caird. The musical is based on the Book of Genesis, with Act I telling the story of Adam and Eve, and Cain and Abel, while Act II deals with Noah and the flood.
Not Wanted on the Voyage is a novel by Canadian author Timothy Findley, which presents a magic realist post-modern re-telling of the Great Flood in the biblical Book of Genesis. It was first published by Viking Canada in the autumn of 1984, and was a shortlisted finalist for the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction at the 1984 Governor General's Awards.
Heliopolitans are a fictional group of gods, based on Ancient Egyptian deities, appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Bast is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared as idol in Fantastic Four #52, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and is based on the Egyptian cat goddess Bastet. Bast is a member of the Heliopolitan and Wakandan pantheons. and the patron of the superhero Black Panther.
Rosemary Jeanne Harris was a British author of children's fiction. She won the 1968 Carnegie Medal for British children's books.
Allusions in rabbinic literature to the Biblical character Noah, who saved his family and representatives of all the animals from a great flood by constructing an ark, contain various expansions, elaborations and inferences beyond what is presented in the text of the Bible itself.
The Green Pastures is a 1936 American film depicting stories from the Bible as visualized by black characters. It starred Rex Ingram, Oscar Polk, and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson. It was based on the 1928 novel Ol' Man Adam an' His Chillun by Roark Bradford and the 1930 Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by Marc Connelly.
Noah's Ark is a 2007 Argentine-Italian animated comedy adventure film directed by Juan Pablo Buscarini. Based on the biblical story of Noah's Ark, its story is told from the animals' point of view. The film tends to follow the traditional story, with the animals being anthropomorphic.
Ra or Re was the ancient Egyptian deity of the sun. By the Fifth Dynasty, in the 25th and 24th centuries BC, he had become one of the most important gods in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the noon-day sun. Ra ruled in all parts of the created world: the sky, the earth, and the underworld. He was believed to have ruled as the first pharaoh of Egypt. He was the god of the sun, order, kings and the sky.
Noah's Ark is a 1999 American-Australian television miniseries directed by John Irvin and starring Jon Voight, Mary Steenburgen, F. Murray Abraham, Carol Kane, Jonathan Cake, Alexis Denisof, Emily Mortimer, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, and James Coburn. The film tells the Biblical story of Noah's Ark from the Book of Genesis. It was initially televised in the United States, that same year, was also televised in Canada, Germany and Portugal, among other countries.
The High Priest of Ptah was sometimes referred to as "the Greatest of the Directors of Craftsmanship". This title refers to Ptah as the patron god of the craftsmen.
The domestic cat is a revered animal in Islam. Admired for their cleanliness, cats are considered "the quintessential pet" by Muslims.
Jackie Morris is a British writer and illustrator. She was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal in 2016 and won it in 2019 for her illustration of The Lost Words, voted the most beautiful book of 2016 by UK booksellers. She is a recipient of the Tir na n-Og Award for children's book Seal Children.
The Moon in the Cloud in libraries ( WorldCat catalog) —immediately, first US edition