Ganesha, the pot-belied elephant god, loved food and could
spend an entire day, eating. Once, on a moonlit night after stuffing
himself with his favourite sweet, the ladoo, he went for a ride on his
vahana a tiny ra. The rat could not bear his weight and tripped.
Ganesha fell on the ground with a thud and broke a tusk. The moon
laughed, seeing this funny sight.
Seeing the moon mocking him, Ganesha got angry. He cursed the moon
saying that any man who looked at the moon on Ganesha Chaturthi, the
birthday of Ganesha, would be wrongly balanced.
The moon, realised its mistake, and begged Ganesha to remove the
curse. But Ganesha was adamant. Finally, after a long time, Ganesha gave
in and reduced the punishment. He could not take back his curse but said
that the falsely accused man would have to look at the moon on the second
day of the fortnight to win back his good name.
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