According to Sir George H. Darwin, the moon was once close to the Earth and gradually was pushed farther away by the tides. Qfwfq narrates his story from this time. Qfwfq, Captain Vhd Vhd, Mrs. Vhd Vhd, young Xlthlx, and Qfwfq's cousin, the Deaf One, among others, go out on the sea to the Zinc Cliffs to climb up to the moon with ladders. Fish and small sea creatures that are light enough are lifted out of the ocean and float in the air. One person holds the ladder in the boat, while someone else climbs up it, and a third person rows underneath the moon. The person on the ladder often thinks he'll hit his head, since the moon is so close. The moon's surface is covered with scales, and to get up, a person grasps onto the scales and tumbles down in a somersault, held by the moon's gravity. (read more)