Japanese Children's Favorite Stories Book 1 Page 3

  He showed her one of the toothpicks. It was all cut up but the marks were so tiny that the princess could barely see them. She asked her father what the marks meant. Her father explained that the tiny warriors had come to her room because of all the used toothpicks! The warriors had no swords of their own and toothpicks made the best swords, and this was why they had come to the princess' room every night!

  The warriors hadn't come last night, he said, because he had been there, and they were afraid. Then the princess' father looked at her sternly and asked why there were so many used toothpicks in her room.

  The princess was very ashamed of her bad habit, and she admitted to her father that it was she who had stuck the toothpicks between the cracks in the straw mats, because she had been too lazy to throw them away. She also said she was very, very sorry and promised that she would never, ever be so lazy again.

  Then she picked up all the toothpicks in her room, even those at the very bottom of the cracks, and threw them all away. That night the warriors did not come because there were no tiny swords for them, and they never came again.

  Soon the princess felt better again because the warriors no longer kept her awake. She became very neat about everything, and pleased her father greatly by even sweeping the garden every day. She never forgot the tiny warriors, and if she ever used a toothpick again, you may be sure that she was very careful to throw it away properly.

  The Sticky-Sticky Pine

  Once there was a young woodcutter who lived in Japan. He was very poor but kind-hearted. Whenever he went to gather firewood, he would never tear off the living branches of a tree, but would instead gather the dead branches that had fallen on the ground. This was because the kind woodcutter knew what would happen if you tore a branch off a tree. The sap, which is like the blood of a tree, would drip and drip, as though the poor tree was bleeding. Since the woodcutter didn't want to hurt any trees, he never tore off any of their branches.

  One day the woodcutter was walking beneath a tall pine tree looking for firewood when he heard a voice saying:

  "Sticky, sticky is my sap,

  For my tender twigs are snapped."

  The woodcutter looked around, and sure enough, someone had broken three branches off the pine tree and its sap was running out.

  Skillfully, the woodcutter mended the broken branches, saying:

  "Now these tender twigs I'll wrap,

  And in that way I'll stop the sap."

  He tore pieces from his own clothes to make bandages. No sooner had he finished than many tiny gold and silver things fell from the tree. They were coins! The surprised woodcutter could not believe his eyes. He looked up at the pine tree and thanked it. Then he gathered up all the coins and took them home.

  The kind woodcutter had so many gold and silver coins that he knew he was now a very rich man. Pine trees are a symbol of prosperity in Japan, and, sure enough, the grateful pine tree had repaid him for his kind act.

  Just then a face appeared at the window of the woodcutter's house. It belonged to another woodcutter. But this woodcutter was neither nice nor kind. In fact, it was he who had torn off the three branches from the pine tree. When he saw the coins, he asked, "Where did you get all those coins? Look how nice and bright they are."

  The kind woodcutter held up the coins for the other to see. They were oblong in shape, the way coins used to be in Japan, and he had five basketfuls. He told the mean woodcutter how he had got the coins.

  "From that big pine tree?" asked the mean woodcutter.

  "Yes, that was the one."

  "Hmm," said the mean woodcutter and away he ran as fast as he could. He wanted some of the coins for himself.

  The mean woodcutter came to the old pine tree, and the tree said:

  "Sticky, sticky, is my blood.

  Touch me, you'll receive a flood."

  "Oh, that's just what I want," said the mean woodcutter. "A flood of gold and silver!" He reached up and broke off another branch. The pine tree suddenly showered him. But it showered him with sticky, sticky sap— not gold and silver at all!

  The mean woodcutter was covered with the sap. It got in his hair and on his arms and legs. It was so sticky, he couldn't move at all. Though he called for help, no one could hear him. He had to remain there for three days—one day for each branch that he had broken—until the sap became soft enough for him to drag himself home.

  And, after that, he never broke another branch off a living tree.

  The Spider Weaver

  Long ago there was a young farmer named Yosaku. One day he was working in the fields and saw a snake about to eat a spider. Yosaku felt sorry for the spider, so he ran at the snake with his hoe and drove it away.

  The spider disappeared into the grass, but first it seemed to pause a moment and bow in thanks toward Yosaku.

  One morning not long after that, Yosaku was in his house when he heard a tiny voice outside calling, 'Yosaku, Yosaku!" He opened the door and saw a beautiful girl standing there.

  "I heard that you are looking for someone to weave cloth for you," said the girl. "Won't you please let me live here and weave for you?"

  Yosaku was very pleased because he did need someone to help him. He showed the girl the weaving room and she started to work at the loom with cotton. A the end of the day Yosaku went to see what she had done, and was very surprised to find that she had woven eight long pieces of cloth, enough to make eight kimono. He had never known anyone could weave so much in a single day.

  "How ever did you weave so much cloth?" he asked the girl.

  But instead of answering him, she said, "You mustn't ask me that.

  And you must never come into the weaving room while I am at work."

  But Yosaku was very curious. So one day he slipped quietly to the weaving room and peeped in the window. What he saw really surprised him! It was not the girl who was seated at the loom, but a large spider, weaving very fast with its eight legs, and for thread it was using its own spider web, which came out of its mouth.

  Yosaku looked again and saw that it was the same spider that he had saved from the snake. Then he understood. The spider had been so thankful that it had wanted to do something to help him. So it had turned itself into a beautiful girl to help him weave cloth. By eating the cotton that was in the weaving room, it could spin it into thread and weave it into cloth very, very quickly.

  Yosaku was very grateful for the spider's help. He saw that the cotton was almost used up, so the next morning he set out for the nearest village, on the other side of the mountains, to buy some more. He bought a big bundle of cotton and started home, carrying it on his back.

  Along the way a terrible thing happened. As Yosaku sat down to rest, the same snake that he'd driven away from the spider came and slipped inside the bundle of cotton. But Yosaku didn't know about this. So he carried the cotton home and gave it to the girl.

  She was very glad to get the cotton, because she had now used up all the cotton that was left. So she took it and went to the weaving room.

  As soon as the girl was inside the weaving room she turned back into a spider and began eating the cotton so that she could spin it into thread. The spider ate and ate and ate, and then suddenly, when it had eaten down to the bottom of the bundle—the snake jumped right out of the cotton and straight at her!

  The snake opened its mouth wide to swallow the spider. The spider was very frightened and jumped out the window, but the snake went wriggling after it. But the spider had eaten so much cotton that it couldn't run fast, and the snake soon caught up with it. Again the snake opened its mouth wide to gulp the spider down. But just then a wonderful thing happened.

  Old Man Sun, up in the sky, had been watching what was happening. He knew how kind the spider had been to Yosaku and he felt very sorry for the poor little spider. So he reached down with a sunbeam and caught hold of the end of the web that was sticking out of the spider's mouth, and he gently lifted the spider high up into the sky, where the snake couldn't reach her
.

  The spider was very grateful to Old Man Sun for saving her from the snake. And so she used all the cotton inside her body to weave many beautiful, fleecy clouds high up in the sky.

  This is the reason, they say, why clouds are soft and white like cotton, and also why a spider and a cloud are both called by the same name in Japan—kumo.

  Little One-Inch

  There was once a kindly couple who had no children. One day they went to a shrine and prayed for a baby, saying, "Oh, please give us a child. We want a child very badly."

  On their way home from the shrine, they heard a tiny crying sound coming from a patch of grass. They looked in the grass, and there they found a tiny little baby boy, wrapped in a bright red blanket. "This child has come in answer to our prayers," they said. So they took the little baby home with them and raised him as their son.

  Now this baby was so tiny that he wasn't as large as your thumb, and even as he grew older he stayed the same size. He was just about an inch tall, so the couple named him Little One-Inch.

  One day, when he had grown older, Little One-Inch said to his mother and father, "Thank you very much for raising me so well. But now I must go out into the world and make my fortune."

  The couple tried to keep him from leaving, saying he was too tiny to go out into the world. But Little One-Inch insisted, so finally they said, "All right, we'll help you get ready." And they gave him a needle to use for a sword, a rice bowl to use for a boat, and a chopstick to use for an oar.

  Little One-Inch got in his boat and waved goodbye to his parents, promising to return home when he had made his fortune. Then he went floating down the river in his rice bowl boat, paddling with his chopstick.

  Little One-Inch had floated along for many, many leagues when a frog accidentally knocked into his boat and turned it over. Little One-Inch was a very good swimmer and he swam to the riverbank, where he found himself standing before a great lord's house.

  Little One-Inch looked at the house and saw that it must belong to a very wealthy lord. He walked boldly up to the front door and called out. A servant came to the door, but he couldn't see anyone.

  "Here I am, down here!" cried Little One-Inch. "Look down here!"

  The servant looked down at the ground. At first all he could see was a pair of wooden sandals that his lord used when he went out walking. Then the servant looked closer and saw the tiny figure of Little One-Inch standing beside the sandals. He was so surprised that he hurried off to tell his lord.

  The lord came to the front door himself and looked down at Little One-Inch standing there proudly, his needle-sword at his hip. "Why, hello there, little warrior," he said. "What do you want here?"

  "I've come out into the world to seek my fortune," said Little One -Inch. "And if you'll have me, let me become one of your guards. I may be small, but I can fight very well with this fine sword."

  The lord was very amused to hear the tiny boy speak such bold words. "All right," he said, "you can come and be a playmate for my daughter, the princess."

  So Little One-Inch became the companion of the princess. They soon became good friends, reading and playing together every day. The princess even made a bed for Little One-Inch in her jewel box.

  One day Little One-Inch and the princess went to visit a temple near the lord's house. Suddenly, a terrible green devil appeared, carrying a magic hammer. When the devil saw the princess he ran towards her to carry her off.

  Little One-Inch quickly drew his needle-sword and began sticking the green devil's toes with it. But the devil's skin was so thick that the tiny sword couldn't go through it. As the devil got closer to the princess, Little One-Inch climbed up the devil's body and out onto his arm. Then he waved his sword at the devil's nose. This made the devil so angry that he opened his mouth wide to let out a roar.

  At that moment Little One-Inch gave a big leap and jumped right onto the green devil's face and began poking his nose with the sword. Now the devil's nose was very tender and the needle hurt very much. He was so surprised that he jumped up, yelled and went running away. He even dropped his magic hammer.

  The princess said, "Thank you, Little One-Inch," and picked up the magic hammer. "Now we can use this to make a wish!" She shook the hammer in the air and said, "Please let Little One-Inch grow taller!"

  Sure enough, each time she shook the hammer, Little One-Inch grew one inch taller. The princess kept shaking it until he was just as tall as she was. They were both very happy, and the lord was very grateful when he heard what Little One-Inch had done.

  When they were a few years older, Little One-Inch and the princess were married, and they lived very happily ever after.

  The Badger and the Magic Fan

  In Japan, goblins are called tengu and they all have very long noses. Now once upon a time three little tengu children were playing in the forest. They had a magic fan with them, and when they fanned their noses with one side of the fan, their noses would grow longer and longer, and when they fanned their noses with the other side, their noses would shrink back to their original sizes.

  The three tengu children were having a wonderful time fanning their noses. But just then a badger came by and saw what they were doing. "My! How I'd like to have a fan like that!" he said to himself. And then he thought of a good trick. Badgers are always playing tricks and can change themselves into any shape they want. So the badger changed himself into a little girl. He took four bean-jam buns with him and went to the tengu children.

  "Hello, children," said the badger. "I've brought you some wonderful bean-jam buns. Please let me play with you!"

  The tengu children were delighted because they loved to eat bean-jam buns. But there were four delicious buns to be divided among the three of them, and they immediately started arguing over who would get the very last bun.

  Finally the badger said, "I know how to decide who gets the last bun. Close your eyes, and the one who can keep his eyes closed and hold his breath the longest will win the last bun."

  The tengu children all agreed. The badger counted, "One! Two! Three!" and they closed their eyes hard. As soon as they did, the badger grabbed the magic fan and went running away with it as fast as he could, leaving the tengu children in the forest with their eyes closed and still holding their breath.

  "Ha, ha, ha!" laughed the badger. "I certainly made fools out of those tengu children!" he said, and went walking along his way.

  Soon the badger came to a temple. There he saw a beautiful girl dressed in very expensive clothes. He felt sure she was the daughter of a wealthy man, and in fact her father was a great lord and the richest man in all of Japan. So the badger crept up quietly behind her on tiptoe. Quick as a flash he fanned her nose with the magic fan. Instantly her nose grew a yard long!

  What a terrible to-do there was! Here was the beautiful little rich girl with the nose a yard long! Her father called all the doctors in the land, but none of them could do anything to make her nose shorter. He spent a lot of money on medicines, but nothing did any good. Finally in desperation he said, "I'll give my daughter as a wife and half my fortune to anyone who can make her nose grow short again!"

  When the badger heard this, he said, "That's what I've been waiting for." He quickly went to the great lord and announced that he had come to fix her nose. So the great lord took the badger to his daughter's room. The badger took out the magic fan and fanned her nose with the other side of it. In the twinkling of an eye her nose was short again!

  The great lord was very happy and started making preparations for the wedding. The badger was very happy too because not only was he going to get a beautiful wife, he was also going to get a large fortune.

  On the day of the wedding, the badger was so happy that he ate and drank too much and became very hot and sleepy. Without thinking, he lay back on some pillows, closed his eyes and began fanning himself with the magic fan. Instantly his nose began to grow longer. But as he was half asleep, he didn't know this was happening. So he kept fanning and fann
ing himself and his nose kept on growing and growing. It went right through the ceiling and high into the sky until it pierced the clouds.

  Now, above the clouds some heavenly workers were building a bridge across the Milky Way. "Look at that!" they cried, pointing to the badger's nose. "That pole's just the right size for our bridge. Come on, let's pull it up!"

  And they began pulling on the badger's nose. How this surprised the badger! He started out of his sleep, crying, "Ouch! Help, help!" And he began to fan his nose with the other side of the fan as fast as he possibly could.

  But it was much too late. The heavenly workers kept on pulling, crying, "Heave, ho!" until they had pulled the badger into the sky, and no one ever saw him again.

  Mr Lucky Straw

  Once upon a time, long ago, there was a good-hearted young man named Shobei who lived in a village in Japan.

  One day on his way home from working in the fields, Shobei fell down the steps that led to his village and tumbled over and over on the ground. When he finally stopped tumbling, Shobei discovered that he had caught a piece of straw in his hand.

  "Well, well," he said, "a piece of straw is a worthless thing, but it seems I was meant to pick this one up, so I won't throw it away."

  As Shobei went walking along, holding the straw in his hand, a dragonfly came flying in circles around his head. "What a pest!" he said. "I'll show this dragonfly not to bother me!" And he caught the dragonfly and tied the straw around its tail.

  Shobei went on walking, holding on to the dragonfly, and presently met a woman walking with her son. When the little boy saw the dragonfly, he wanted it very badly. "Mother, I want that dragonfly," he said. "Please, please, please!"