The Moon Endureth Explained

The Moon Endureth
Author:	John Buchan
Set In:	Various
Language:	English
Genre:	Short story and poetry collection
Publisher:	W Blackwood & Sons^[1]
Release Date:	1912
Media Type:	Print
Pages:	324

The Moon Endureth, subtitled 'Tales and Fancies', is a 1912 short story and poetry collection by the Scottish author John Buchan.^[2]

Title

In an introduction to the collection Buchan quotes from an article on St Francis in Lives of the Saints: "To the righteous is promised abundance of peace while the moon endureth". Psalms 72:7 in the King James Version has "In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth".

Content

The collection includes the following short stories and poems. The stories Streams of Water in the South and The Rime of True Thomas were reprinted from a former collection, Grey Weather. The remaining tales had all previously appeared in Blackwood's Magazine.^[3]

• From the Pentlands Looking North and South (poem)
• I. The Company of the Marjolaine (short story)
  • "Avignon" (poem)
• II. A Lucid Interval (short story)
  • "The Shorter Catechism" (poem)
• III. The Lemnian (short story)
  • "Atta's Song" (poem)
• IV. Space (short story)
  • "Stocks and Stones" (poem)
• V. Streams of Water in the South (short story)
  • "The Gipsy's Song to the Lady Cassilis" (poem)
• VI. The Grove of Ashtaroth (short story)
  • "Wood Magic" (poem)
• VII. The Riding of Ninemileburn (short story)
  • "Plain Folk" (poem)
• "VIII. The Kings of Orion (short story)
  • "Babylon" (poem)
• IX. The Green Glen (short story)
  • "The Wise Years" (poem)
• X. The Rime of True Thomas (short story)

Critical reception

In its review of the first edition The Athenaeum noted "a marked leaning towards the mysterious and bizarre". The collection was said to show "considerable imagination, and occasionally a touch of delicate satire".^[4]

Notes and References

1. Web site: British Library Item details . primocat.bl.uk . 21 September 2018.
2. Book: Buchan, John . The Moon Endureth . W Blackwood & Sons . 1912. British Library catalogue entry
3. Book: Hathi catalogue entry. Hathi Trust Digital Library. 15 December 2016.
4. Athenaeum review quoted in Book: Lownie, Andrew . Andrew Lownie

   . John Buchan: The Presbyterian Cavalier . Andrew Lownie . Thistle Publishing . 2013 . 978-1909609990 . 2013 . 116–117.