Japanese Fairytales    

Tsuru no On-gaeshi (A Repaying Crane)
Once upon a time, there was a poor hunter. One day, he came across a trapped crane. He took pity on the crane and released it. A few days later, a lovely woman visited his house, and asked him to shelter her for the night. The next day she didn't go, and eventually the two got married. As well as being beautiful, the bride had a good disposition, so they lived happily. But the hunter couldn't afford to support his new wife. One day, she said that she would weave cloth so that he could sell it to make money (weaving was common as a woman's side job in those days). But she told him that he was never to see her weaving. She stayed in a weaving hut for three days. When the weaving sound stopped, she came out with a beautiful fabric. The hunter took the fabric to a town, where Merchants were surprised and paid gold for it. The fabric was a very rare one called Tsuru-no-senba-ori (thousand feathers of crane). After that, the wife wove the valuable fabric several times. The hunter came to live in comfort. However, little by little, his wife grew thinner. One day, she said that she could weave the fabric no longer. She was so consumed. However, her husband had learned greed, and asked her to weave once more. At last she was persuaded to do so and started to weave again. That time, she didn't come out on the third day. Three more three days passed. He became worried, and finally broke his promise, peeping in at her weaving. To his surprise, it was not a woman but a crane that was weaving. On the next morning, his wife came out from the weaving hut, with the last fabric in her hands. She said "You have seen my true form, so I can stay with you any no longer." And then, she turned into a crane and flew away, leaving the hunter cryng.

Kaguya Hime (Princess Kaguya)
Once upon a time, there was an old bamboo-crafter. One day he found a glimmering bamboo in a mountain. When he cut the bamboo, a small girl baby came out. He brought the baby, named Kaguya and caught up with his wife. Kaguya grew at a surprising speed, and became a beautiful girl of 4 feet tall in several months. Her beauty attracted many noble princes. Five princes proposed marriage to her. But she requested each of the candidates to bring a legendary treasure, such as an orb of dragon, skin of fire-mouse, etc., in return for marriage with her. One lost his life in his quest. One faked the treasure, but was exposed soon. Others simply failed. So no one could marry with her. After that, the emperor proposed marriage. But she rejected him too. Several years past. The bamboosmith noticed that Kaguya seemed melancholy when she saw the moon. He asked her about it to her. At first she refused to answer, but at last told him, "I'm a child of the lunar sky", and they will come here to bring me back to the moon soon on the next full moon night." He was surprised, and decided to keep her from the lunar sky. The emperor sent an army to guard her house. On the full moon night, a carriage descended from the moon to her house. The army tried to shoot it down but in vain. The soldiers were incapacitated by strange forces. The lunar forces came to Kaguya, and told her to ride the carriage to go back to the moon. Then she cried, saying thanks and good-bye to the bamboo-crafter and his wife, then returned to the moon.

Shitakiri Suzume (A tongue-cut sparrow) Once upon a time, there were an old man and his wife. One day he came across a wounded sparrow. He brought the sparrow to his house and treated it. So the sparrow was tamed by him. But when he was out, the sparrow ate starch made by his wife. She got angry and cut out the tongue of the sparrow. The sparrow was wounded again, and flew away. When he came back, he found that the sparrow was lost. He sought the sparrow throughout the mountains, and finally found the hidden kingdom of the sparrows. The sparrows gave a warm reception to him. When he returned to his home, the sparrows offered him a present. They showed him two boxes, one small and the other large, and told him to choose one. He chose the small one, because he was old and couldn't carry much. After he came back, he found the box full of gold. He was pleased, but his wife got angry, rebuked him saying why had he not chosen the bigger box. So she pumped the location of the kingdom from him, and went there to get more gold. Though the sparrows tried to give a warm reception to her, she rejected them, and wanted only the last present, the bigger one, of course. The bigger box was very heavy. She got tired on the way home, so took a rest, and opened the box. In the box was not gold, but a pride of grotesque monsters assaulting her.

Hanasaka Jisan (An old man made blossoms) Once upon a time, there were two old men. One was very honest, and the other was a liar. The honest man had a dog, named Pochi. One day, Pochi barked in the middle of field. So the honest man dug there. From beneath the soil appeared an amount of gold. The liar envied him. He took Pochi out, and ordered to search gold for him. Pochi reluctantly barked in his field. When he dug the field, only ugly serpents and toads emerged from the earth. He got angry, and killed Pochi. The honest old man was sorrowful. He buried Pochi's body and planted a tree as its tomb. The tree grew rapidly. So he cut the tree and made a mortar out of the wood. When he made rice cake with the mortar, gold coins poured out from the mortar. So he got more riches. The liar old man envied him again. He borrowed the mortar from the honest man, and used it to made make rice cake. Again, he got only worms, frogs and snakes. He got angry, and burned the wooden mortar. The honest old man was sorrowful again. He brought the ashes of the mortar back, and strew them about. The ashes were carried by wind to dead trees, and to his surprise, the dead tree revived and blossomed. The lord of the region saw it, and was very amazed. So he rewarded the honest old man with much gold. The liar old man envied him three times. He stole the remaining ashes, and went to the lord's castle. He said he could make dead trees blossom, and demonstrated in front of the lord. However, he was betrayed three times. The tree didn't revive. And the ashes flew into the eyes of the lord, making the lord very angry. So the old man liar was executed at last.

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