Japanese fairy tales

Hi Everybody,

There was nothing 'exciting' this last while except for the typhoon two days ago which gave us lots and lots of rain, probably nine to ten inches. Other areas had some very strong winds, too.  The airport was shut down and many of the trains for some time. There were some very bad mudslides on an island in Tokyo bay where people died in the mudslides. Well, that one has passed us by, so, until the next one comes along, we'll just keep working and doing what we can to help with the Lord's work here in Japan. We have exciting news that our oldest granddaughter has her mission call and will be laboring in Peru!  Also, her other grandparents got their mission call!  Please let us know if you get a mission call, too!

Since I don't have any more "news", I thought some of you might enjoy some Japanese fairy tales.

LORD BAG OF RICE

 

A SOLDIER in Japan was once about to cross a bridge near a lake when he saw a huge snake coiled on the bridge so that no one could pass. Now, do you think that this soldier turned and ran away, as many others had that day? No, indeed! He knew that a bridge was not the place for a snake, so he walked up and stamped on its head.

As he stepped on him, the snake was gone. Only a dwarf stood before him, who at once began bowing his head to the ground with respect.


"Now, at last I have found some one who is not a coward!'' cried the dwarf. "Here I have been waiting for days to find a man who was brave enough to help me, but none dared cross the bridge. Everyone turned and ran at the sight of me. But you are strong-hearted. Will you do me a great kindness and save many lives?"

The soldier answered:

"I am a soldier of the Emperor, and I am here to save life and right wrong. Tell me your trouble and I will see what can be done to help it."

"There is a terrible centipede," said the dwarf, "and he lives in the woods on the mountain. Every day he comes down to the shore to drink. He dips his thousand poisonous feet into the beautiful water, turning it all foul and dirty. It kills all the fishes in the lake, too. I am the king of the lake, and I am trying to find some way to save my fishes."

"I do not know that I can help you," said the soldier, ''but I will gladly go with you and try. "

The dwarf took him to his home in the bottom of the lake. It was a beautiful house, all made of coral and pearl. His servants, the crabs and sunfishes, brought them rice, fruit, and tea, served on tiny green leaves. The tea looked like water and the rice looked like seafoam, but they tasted all right, so what matter?

Just as they were in the middle of their feast they heard a mighty roaring and rumbling. It sounded as though a mountain were being torn up.

''There he is!" he cried. "That is the noise of his thousand feet as they crunch on the stones of the mountain side. We must hurry or he will get to the water and poison it again. "

They hurried to the edge of the lake and saw the centipede already very near. He looked. like an army marching with colored lanterns, for each one of his thousand legs glowed with many beautiful shades of crimson and green and gold.

The soldier drew his great bow and let an arrow fly at the monster's head. He never missed his aim, and the arrow struck the ugly head of the centipede, but bounced away. A second arrow flew, but that, too, bounced away.

He had but one arrow left and the monster was almost at the water's edge.

Suddenly he remembered that when he was a boy his grandfather had told him that if you wet the head of an arrow in your mouth it will kill any monster.

It took just a second to wet the head of his last precious arrow and send it whizzing at the centipede. It struck him on the forehead and he fell over dead.

Suddenly the soldier found himself back in his own house, which was now changed into a castle. Before him were five gifts, on each of which he read, ''With the loving thanks of the Dwarf."

The first of these gifts was a huge bronze bell, on the outside of which was told in pictures the story of the centipede. The second was a sword which would always give its owner the victory. The third was a suit of armor so strong that no swords or arrows could go through it.

The last two were the most wonderful of all. One was a roll of silk of any color he wished, and the more he used of the silk the more the roll grew. The other was a bag of rice which never grew less, although he used all he wished for his friends and himself.

This last gift seemed so wonderful to the people that they called him Lord Bag of Rice from that day

 

 

 

PEACH DARLING

                            

HERE once lived an old man and an old woman who had no child of their own. They felt very sad about this, for they said: "Who will care for us when we are too old to care for ourselves?"

Since they had no children of their own to love, they loved all other children and tried to make them happy. Even the cats and dogs, the birds and squirrels, knew they had friends in the old man and woman.

No cherry trees ever bore such beautiful blossoms as the ones by their cottage door, and all the bees of the village came to hum with delight at the long and graceful catkins on their willow tree.

One day the old man said: "To-day I must go to the mountains to cut grass. Oh, if I only had a stout young boy who could take this long journey for me! But then I must not complain, for we have each other." So off he went, happy and contented, in spite of it all.

Then the old woman said to herself: "If my good husband must take such a long, hard journey to-day, I, too, will be at work. I will take all these clothes down to the river and wash them."

Soon she was on the river bank, washing merrily, while the birds sang above her. "How jolly our little friends are to-day!" thought the old woman. "They twitter and sing as though they were trying to tell me a secret.

Just then something came splashing and tumbling down the river and caught among her clean clothes. The old woman took a stick and pulled it out. It was a huge peach. "I will take this home for my husband's supper; he will be so tired, and this will taste very good," she said. Oh! how the birds sang then!

That evening when the old man came home from the mountains his wife said: "Just see, here is a peach for your supper, which came floating down the river to me. I fancy the birds must have sent it, for they laughed and sang so when it came."

The old man said: "Bring me a knife, that I may cut it in two, for you shall have half of it."

When they opened the peach, there within it lay a tiny baby boy, as round and fat and smiling as could be. Because of his first cradle they called him "Peach Darling," and loved him as a child sent from the gods.

As he grew tall and strong they found that he was indeed wonderful. No one equaled him in strength, and none in wisdom. Every child in the village loved him, and all the birds and animals were his friends.

He took good care that his old father and mother should not have to work hard as they once did. "For," he said, ''what better thing can I do than take care of you?''

When he became a young man he heard of the terrible monster, Akandoji. Years before, this monster had stolen a great deal of gold and silver from the villagers. It was said that he was so terrible that no one dared go against him, to try to recover the riches.

Peach Darling said: "I will go and fight this monster. Who will go with me?" But no one dared go, so he decided to go alone.

His father and mother were proud of their brave son, but their hearts ached to think of his going alone. His mother said to his father: "If you will grind me some fine millet seed, I will make our son some dumplings, for they may give him more strength to fight Akandoji." So the old man ground the millet seed, and the old woman made the dumplings.

Peach Darling put them into his pouch and started off on his journey. As he was going along a dog came up and sniffed hungrily at the dumplings. Peach Darling thought, "This poor dog is hungry, and I can do with one less dumpling. I am strong and shall not mind hunger." So he gave a dumpling to the dog.

As soon as the dog had eaten it he spoke and said: "Since you gave me of your food, I will go with you, for I cannot leave you alone." So on they went together.

Very soon they saw a monkey lying by the road, gasping as if in pain. Peach Darling stopped to see what was the matter and heard him saying: "Oh, if I only had a bite of something, l should not die." So Peach Darling took another dumpling from his pouch and gave it to the monkey.

After eating it the monkey was so much better that he said: ''Since you have saved my life I will go with you, for I may be able to help you sometime." So the three walked off together.

As they were going, a pheasant hovered near them. Fearing that something might be wrong with her or her young ones, Peach Darling stopped and asked her what troubled her. In bird language she said: ''Oh sir, my young ones are starving. I do not know what to do! "

"Do?" said Peach Darling. "Take them this dumpling, and if ever again you are hungry, come to me. I will not let you starve."

By this time they were down to the seashore, so they climbed into a boat and started off for the island of Akandoji. Just as they were starting there was a flutter of wings and the pheasant alighted in the boat with them.

"Dear Peach Darling," she said, "if you are going to face dangers, I will go, too, for perhaps I may be able to help you."

After a long row they reached the monster's island, and climbed the steep hill to the gate of the castle. Here they found the monkey of great use, since he always has four hands and four feet as well as a long, strong rope fastened to his body.

When they reached the great gate of the castle, they all four began to make the greatest noise possible. The man shouted, the dog barked, the pheasant screamed, and the monkey chattered, while they all beat on the door with stones.

The people within thought that a great army was upon them, so they threw open their gates and fled.

Peach Darling searched until he found Akandoji himself, who was just about to throw a great stone at him. He dodged the stone and picked the monster up in his arms, while the monkey tied him fast with ropes. When he found himself beaten, Akandoji agreed to return all his stolen riches. So his men carried down great bags of gold and loaded the boat of Peach Darling.

Then up went the sail, and as the wind swept them over the sea, the island of Akandoji grew small and disappeared.

All the village was glad when they returned, but none were so glad as the old man and woman. The people were now very proud of Peach Darling, and called him a great man, but he said: "Give all the honor to my three companions, for they did it all."

Peach Darling lived many years, and was always kind and wise. Many people of the village came to him for help.

Once the people brought him a wonderful peach fashioned out of gold. They said: "We all love you for bringing back our riches to us, but we love you far, far more for your wisdom and kindness to us."

THE EIGHTY-ONE BROTHERS

NEAR Tajima, on the north coast of Japan, lived a mighty prince who had eighty-one sons. Eighty of them were bold, proud men, and hated the youngest brother, the eighty-first.

This youngest brother was kind and good to everyone. His elder brothers said: "That is not the way for a prince to act. You treat people as though you were the commonest wood-cutter, and not a cousin of the Emperor himself."

But in spite of all they said the youngest prince was just as kind to the people as ever, so his brothers hated him the more.

Now there was a beautiful princess in Inaba whom everyone wished to see. The eighty, brothers said: "Let us go and see this wonderful princess." So they started off, two by two. What a procession they made!

They took their youngest brother, the eighty-first, along to carry their bundles and wait on them, but he had to walk behind.

Over the hills and through the valleys they went until they came to Cape Keta.

Here they found a poor little hare without a scrap of fur on his body. Every bit had been pulled off, and he lay there with nothing to protect him from the hot sun.

''Oh, good friends," cried the poor hare to the eighty brothers, ''I am nearly dying. Can you tell me what to do to make my fur grow again?"

The proud, cruel brothers only laughed at the poor hare, and answered: ''You wish your hair to grow? Well, you just down and bathe in the salt water of the ocean, and then go and lie on a high rock where the sun can shine on you, and the wind can blow on you." Then they went on, laughing.

The hare did as they told him do. Oh, how the salt water stung his poor skin! Oh, how the sun and wind burned and cracked it!

He lay there groaning and crying with pain. Suddenly he heard some one calling: "What is the matter? Do you want help?"

"Oh, I am dying!" answered the hare. Then he heard some one climbing up the rocks, and in a moment more the eighty-first brother stood by him.

The poor young prince had so many bundles that he could hardly walk. "What is the matter with you? Why are you groaning so?" he asked the hare.

"It is a long story," said the hare, ''and when I am through perhaps you will think I deserve what I now suffer, but I will tell you all. ''

"I was on the island of Oki, and I wished to get over to this country, but I had no boat. At last I thought of a plan. I went down to the seashore and waited until I saw a crocodile raise its head above the water.

"Then I called, 'Croco-croco-crocodile, come here, I wish to talk with you.' He came up close, and I said, 'How many crocodiles are there in the sea?'

"'There are more crocodiles in the sea than there are buttons on my back,' said the crocodile.

"'But there are not so many of you as there are of us,' I said. 'There are more hares on the land than there are hairs on my back.'

"'Let's count,' said the crocodile.

"'All right,' I answered. 'You crocodiles lie here in a row from this land to Cape Keta and I will run across on your heads and count you as I go. Then we will count the hares and see which are the most.'

"So the crocodiles all came and lay in a row, and the farthest one just touched Cape Keta.

"I sprang on their backs and ran as fast as I could to Cape Keta, counting as I ran.

"How foolish I was! Just as I reached the last crocodile I said, 'You silly things! Do you think I care how many there are of you? You have made me a good bridge; that is all I wished. Thank you for it. Good-by.'

"The last crocodile caught me when I said that, and pulled every hair off my body.

" 'We should like to know how many hares there are,' he said, 'so we will just count these hairs and see.' At that the whole row of crocodiles opened their great mouths and laughed."

"Well, it served you right for being so tricky, but go on with your story," said the eighty-first prince.

"Yes, I know it served me right for what I had done, and I shall never do that again," said the poor hare. "But after all my fur was gone, I was lying here crying when eighty princes came along.

"They laughed at me for my baldness, and told me to bathe in the salt water of the ocean and then lie in the sun and wind. I did so, and see how I suffer!"

The eighty-first prince felt very sorry for the poor hare, so he carried him to a spring of clear water.

"Bathe in this," he said, "and that will wash off all the salt. I will bruise some leaves, and the juice from them will make your fur grow again."

When this was done the hare felt as well as ever, and his fur began growing again.

Then the prince picked up his bundles and started on to catch up with his brothers.

When at last the poor tired boy reached Inaba he found his brothers already there, and very cross indeed.

The beautiful princess did not care to see them and they scolded the eighty-first prince as though it had been his fault.

They were just about to return home when a messenger came from the princess.

"Ah!" cried the first prince, "she wishes to see me; she is sending for me, I know."

"Oh, no! " shouted the second prince. ''It is I whom she wants. I know she is sending for me."

The third prince fairly screamed: "You silly things! Don't you know I am the one she wants? I am far handsomer than any one of you. Of course she wants me."

The messenger waited until they were still at last, and then said: "Her Majesty, the Princess of Inaba, wishes the burden-bearer for the eighty princes to come."

The eighty-first prince laid down his burdens and followed the messenger.

He led him to the palace and into a room where sat the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Beside her stood a hare whose fur was just beginning to grow.

The princess said to him: "My friend, I sent for you to thank you for what you did for my pet hare. He has just come to tell me about it. How does it happen that one so kind as you is only a servant?"

Then the eighty-first prince told her: "I am not a servant, O most beautiful Princess! My eighty brothers were coming to see you and made me walk behind and carry the burdens, but I'm just as much a prince as they."

"How can I repay you for all you did for my poor hare? Ask anything you wish and I will give it to you."

"The one thing I wish most of all is to live here with you," said the prince.

So they were the prince and princess of that land, and the hare was their companion.

As for the eighty brothers, they found they might as well go home first as last, and this time they had to carry their own burdens.

---

 

THE FIRST RABBITS

THE children in the sky were all crying. "Boo-hoo," said one. "Boo-hoo," said another. "Boo-hoo," said the rest.

"Children, children, what is the matter?" asked the fairy mother of the sky.

"We've nothing to play," replied one. "There's nothing to do," said another. "We can't play for there's nothing to do," said the rest.

"Why don't you twinkle the stars?" asked the fairy mother of the sky.

"The star lights are all put out," sobbed one. "The sun is shining and the star lights are out," sobbed another. "We can't twinkle the stars when the sun is shining and the star lights are out," sobbed the rest.

"Why don't you beat the thunder drums?" asked the fairy mother of the sky.

"The thunder drums are all broken," sighed one. "We've beaten all the thunder out of them," sighed another. "We can't beat the thunder drums for the thunder is all beaten out of them," sighed the rest.

"Why don't you shake the snow out of the snow sieves?" asked the fairy mother of the sky.

"It won't shake through the sieve," said one. "We've made the snow into balls," said another. '' We can't shake the snow through the sieve when its all made into balls," said the rest.

"Why don't you roll the snowballs?" asked the fairy mother of the sky.

"Oh, we will!" cried one. ''Yes,we will," cried another. "Of course we will," said the rest.

Away they ran to the snowball field.

"Let's throw them," said one. "Let's toss them," said another. ''Let's catch them," said the rest.

Up and down, this way and that way, back and forth, how the white balls danced and flew!

"Oh, look! They're falling through the sky floor," cried one. "They're all falling through the twinkle holes of the stars," said another. "They're falling through the holes down on to the earth," said the rest.

Away the snowballs jumped and bobbed. The star children all began to cry again.

Just then the fairy mother of the sky came with a torch to light the star lamps. "Crying again?" she said. "What's the matter now?"

"Our snowballs all fell through the sky floor," said one. "They all fell through the twinkle holes of the stars," said another. "They've fallen though the holes down on to the earth," said the rest.

''You naughty, naughty snowballs," said the fairy mother of the sky. So she threw her torch after them, but it only scorched their tails and turned them black.

Down on the earth they are hopping still, these soft white balls with their little black tails, and you children call them the rabbits.

**(Good Evening or Morning or afternoon to all of you great people unless you are asleep from all these fairy stories.)**