Japanese Children's Favorite Stories Book 1 Read online

  "Here you are, little boy, you can have my dragonfly!" said Shobei, handing the boy the straw. To thank Shobei, the little boy's mother gave him three oranges. Shobei thanked her and went on his way.

  Before long, Shobei met a peddler resting by the road. The peddler was so thirsty that he was about to faint. There were no streams nearby and Shobei felt very sorry for the peddler, so he gave him the three oranges so that he could drink the juice.

  The peddler was very grateful, and in exchange he gave Shobei three pieces of cloth that he was carrying to market. Shobei thanked him and went on his way.

  As Shobei was walking along, he came across a fine carriage with many attendants. The carriage belonged to a princess who was on her way to town. The princess just happened to look out of the carriage and saw the beautiful pieces of cloth that Shobei was carrying. She said, "Oh, what pretty pieces of cloth you have there. Please let me have them." Shobei gave the princess the three pieces of cloth, and to thank him, she gave him a large bag of coins.

  Shobei took the coins and bought many fields with them. Then he divided the fields among the people of his village. Thus everyone had his or her own piece of land, and they all worked hard on them. The village became very prosperous and many new houses were built. Everyone was amazed when they remembered that all this wealth came from the piece of straw that Shobei had picked up.

  Shobei became the most important man in the village and everyone respected him greatly. And for as long as he lived, they all addressed him as "Mr Lucky Straw."

  Why the Jellyfish Has No Bones

  Long ago all the sea creatures lived happily in the palace of the Dragon King, deep at the bottom of the sea—well, almost all of them. The octopus, who was the palace doctor, disliked the jellyfish immensely. In those days, the jellyfish still had bones like all the other creatures.

  One day the daughter of the Dragon King became sick. The octopus came to see her and said she would die unless she took a medicine made from the liver of a monkey. "The jellyfish is a good swimmer," said the octopus to the king, "so why not send him to find a monkey's liver?"

  And so the king called the jellyfish and sent him on the important errand. But finding a monkey's liver wasn't easy. Even finding a monkey was difficult. The jellyfish swam and swam for days and finally, near a little island, he found a monkey who had fallen in the sea.

  "Help, help!" called out the monkey, who couldn't swim.

  "I'll help you," said the jellyfish, "But in return you must promise to give me your liver so that we can make a medicine for the Dragon King's daughter." The monkey promised, so the jellyfish carried him on his back and went swimming away toward the palace.

  The monkey had been willing to promise anything while he was drowning, but now that he was safe he began to think about his promise. The more he thought, the less he liked the idea of giving up his liver, even for the Dragon King's daughter. No, he decided, he didn't like it one little bit. Being a very clever monkey, he said, "Wait, wait! I just remembered that I left my liver hanging on a tree branch back on the island. Take me back there and I'll get it for you."

  So the jellyfish returned to the island. The monkey climbed up a tall tree and then called out to the jellyfish, "Thank you very much for saving me! I can't find my liver anywhere, but I'll just stay here, thank you!"

  The jellyfish realized that he had been tricked, but there was nothing he could do about it. He swam slowly back to the palace at the bottom of the sea and told the Dragon King what had happened. The king was very angry.

  "Let me and the other fish beat this no-good fellow for you," said the wicked octopus to the king.

  "All right, beat him hard," said the king.

  So they beat the jellyfish until all his bones were broken. He cried and cried, and the octopus laughed and laughed.

  Just then the princess came running in. "Look!" she cried, "I'm not sick at all. I just had a little stomach-ache."

  The Dragon King realized that the octopus had lied to them so that he could get even with his enemy, the jellyfish. The king became so furious that he sent the octopus away from the palace forever and made the jellyfish his favorite. So this is why the octopus now lives alone, scorned and feared by all who live in the sea. And this is why, even though he still has no bones and can no longer swim quickly, the jellyfish is never bothered by the other creatures of the sea.

  The Old Man Who Made Trees Blossom

  Once upon a time there was a very kind old man and his wife who lived in a small village in Japan. Next door to them lived a very mean old man and his wife. The kind old couple had a little white dog named Shiro. They loved Shiro very much and always gave him good things to eat. But the mean old man hated dogs, and every time he saw Shiro he would throw stones at him.

  One day Shiro was barking loudly in the yard. The kind old man went out to see what was the matter. Shiro kept barking and barking and began digging in the ground. "Oh, do you want me to help you dig?" asked the old man. He brought a spade and began digging. Suddenly his spade hit something hard. He dug deeper and found a small pot of gold buried in the earth! The kind old man took it into his house and thanked Shiro for leading him to the gold.

  Now the mean old man and his wife had been spying on their neighbor and had seen all this. They wanted some gold for themselves. So the next day the mean old man asked if he could borrow Shiro for a while. "Why, of course you may borrow Shiro, if he can be of any help to you," said the kind old man.

  The mean old man took Shiro out to his field. "Now find me some gold too," he ordered the dog, "or I'll beat you." So Shiro began digging at a spot on the ground. The mean old man tied Shiro to a tree and began digging for himself. But all he found was some terrible-smelling garbage! This made him so angry that he hit Shiro on the head with his spade, and killed him.

  The kind old man and his wife were very sad about Shiro. They buried him in their field and planted a pine tree over his grave. And every day they went to Shiro's grave and watered the pine tree lovingly.

  The tree began to grow very quickly, and in only a short time it became very big. The kind old woman said, "Remember how Shiro used to love to eat rice cakes? Let's cut down the tree and make a mortar from its trunk. Then with the mortar we'll make some rice cakes in memory of Shiro." So the kind old man cut down the tree and made a mortar. He filled it full of steamed rice and began pounding it to make rice cakes. But no sooner had he begun pounding than all the rice turned into gold! Now the kind old man and his wife were richer than ever.

  The mean old man and his wife had been peeping through the window and had seen the rice turn to gold. They wanted some gold for themselves. So the next day the mean old man asked if he could borrow the mortar. "Why, of course you may borrow it," said the kind old man.

  The mean old man took the mortar home and filled it full of steamed rice. "Now watch," he said to his wife. "When I begin pounding this rice, it will turn into gold." But when he began pounding, the rice turned instead into terrible-smelling garbage! This made him so angry that he chopped the mortar up and burned the pieces in his fireplace.

  When the kind old man went to get his mortar back, it was burned to ashes. He was very sad because the mortar had reminded him of Shiro. So he asked for some of the ashes and took them home with him.

  It was the middle of winter and all the trees were bare. The kind old man decided to scatter some of the ashes in his garden. When he did this, all the cherry trees in the garden suddenly began to bloom. Everybody came to see this wonderful sight, and even the prince who lived in a nearby castle heard about it.

  Now the prince had a cherry tree that he loved very much. Each year he could hardly wait for spring to come so that he could see its beautiful cherry blossoms. But when spring had come that year he discovered that the tree was dead and he was very sad. Now he sent for the kind old man and asked him to bring his tree back to life.

  The old man took some of the ashes and climbed up the tree. Then he threw the ashes up in
to the dead branches, and before they knew it, the whole tree was covered with the most beautiful cherry blossoms that they had ever seen.

  The prince was very pleased. He gave the kind old couple a great box of gold and many presents. Best of all, he gave the old man a new title, "Sir Old-Man-Who-Makes-Trees-Blossom."

  Sir Old-Man-Who-Makes-Trees-Blossom and his wife were now very rich, and they lived very happily for many more years.

  The Crab and the Monkey

  Once a crab and a monkey went for a walk together. Along the way the monkey found a persimmon seed, and the crab found a rice ball. The monkey wanted the crab's rice ball, and being a very clever talker, he finally persuaded the crab to trade the rice ball for the persimmon seed. The monkey quickly ate the rice ball.

  The crab couldn't eat the persimmon seed, but he took it home and planted it in his garden, where it began to grow. Because the crab watered it carefully every day, it grew and grew.

  The tiny seed finally became a big tree, and one autumn day the crab saw that it was full of beautiful persimmons. The crab wanted very much to eat the persimmons, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't climb the tree. So he asked his friend the monkey to pick the persimmons for him.

  Now, the monkey loved persimmons even more than rice balls, and once he was up the tree he began eating all the ripe persimmons, and the only ones he threw down to the crab were hard and unripe. One of them hit the crab on the head and hurt him badly.

  The crab was angry and asked three of his friends, a mortar and a hornet and a chestnut, to help him punish the monkey. So the three friends hid themselves around the crab's house one day, and the crab invited the monkey to come to tea.

  When the monkey arrived he was given a seat by the fireplace. The chestnut was hiding in the ashes roasting himself, and suddenly he burst out of the fireplace and burned the monkey on his neck. The monkey screamed with pain and jumped up.

  In an instant the hornet flew down and stung the monkey with his tail. The monkey tried to run away, but the mortar was hiding above the door and fell down with a thud on the monkey, hurting his back.

  The monkey saw there was no escape. He bowed down to the crab and his three friends and said, "I did a bad thing when I ate the Crab's delicious persimmons and threw the unripe ones to him. I promise never to do such a bad thing again. Please forgive me!"

  The crab accepted the monkey's apology, and they became friends again. The monkey learned his lesson and never again cheated anyone.

  The Ogre and the Rooster

  There once was a mountain so high and steep that it seemed to touch the sky. On top of this mountain lived a terrible ogre. He had red skin and a single horn growing out of his head, and he was always doing wicked things to the village people at the foot of the mountain.

  One morning the farmers of the village who worked at the foot of the mountain went to their fields and saw their vegetables ruined. Someone had pulled them all up and had trampled on them until there was not a single good one left.

  They wondered who could have done such a thing, then saw the ogre's footprints all over the ground.

  This made the farmers angry. They were tired of the ogre's tricks, and when they looked at all the ruined vegetables they became angrier. They pointed up at the mountain and cried, "Oh, you wicked ogre! Why don't you quit doing these wicked things?"

  The ogre looked down at them from the top of the mountain and answered in a terrible voice, "You must give me a human every day for my supper. Then I'll stop bothering you!"

  The farmers had never heard such a request. They shook their tools at the ogre and shouted back, "Who do you think you are, wanting to eat a human every day?"

  "I'm the ogre-est ogre in the land," the ogre roared back. "That's who I am! There's absolutely nothing I can't do! Ha, ha, ha!" The ogre's voice echoed loudly through the mountains and made all the trees bend and sway.

  "All right then," yelled back the farmers. "Let's see how great you really are! If you can build a stone stairway with a hundred steps in one night, from our fields all the way to the top of the mountain, then we'll do whatever you want."

  "Why, I can do that!" the ogre replied. "And if I haven't finished the stairway before the first rooster crows tomorrow morning, then I promise to go away and to never bother you again."

  As soon as it grew dark, the ogre crept into the village and put a straw hood over the head of every single rooster so it wouldn't see the sun rising. Then the ogre thought to himself, "Now I'll build that stairway!" And he set to work, building the stairway up the mountain.

  The ogre worked so hard and so quickly that he already had ninety-nine steps in place when the sun began to rise in the east. But he only smiled to himself, thinking that the roosters wouldn't be able to crow and that he still had plenty of time to put the last step in place.

  But a kind fairy also lived on the mountain. The fairy had been watching the ogre and had seen the mean trick he was playing. So while the ogre was going down the stairway for the last stone, the fairy flew down and took the straw hood off the head of one of the roosters.

  The rooster saw the sun rising and crowed loudly, "ko-ke-kok-ko!" This woke up all the other roosters, and they all began to crow.

  The ogre was surprised to hear this. "I've lost!" he cried. "And there was just one more step to go." But even ogres must keep their promises, so he stroked his horn very sadly and went far away into the mountains.

  No one ever saw the ogre again and the farmers lived very happily at the foot of the mountain. They finished the stairway up the mountain and often climbed it on summer evenings to enjoy the wonderful view.

  The Rabbit Who Crossed the Sea

  Once there was a white rabbit who wanted to cross the sea. Across the waves he could see a beautiful island and he wanted very badly to go there. But the rabbit couldn't swim and there were no boats around. Then he had an idea.

  He called to a shark in the sea and said, "Oh, Mr Shark, which one of us has the most friends, you or I?"

  "I'm sure I have the most friends," said the shark.

  "Well, let's count them to make sure," said the rabbit. "Why don't you have all your friends line up in the sea between here and that island? Then I can count them."

  So all the sharks lined up in the sea, and the rabbit went hopping from the back of one shark to the next, counting, "One, two, three, four, five... " Finally he reached the island.

  Then he turned to the sharks and said, "Ha, ha, you dumb sharks! I certainly fooled you. I got you to make a bridge for me, without you knowing about it."

  The sharks became very angry. One of them reached up with his sharp teeth and bit off a piece of the rabbit's fur.

  "Oh, that hurts!" cried the rabbit and he began weeping.

  Just then the king of the island came by. He asked the rabbit what was the matter, and when he had heard the rabbit's story, he said, "You mustn't ever fool others and tell lies again. If you promise to be good, I'll tell you how you can get your fur back."

  "Oh, I promise, I promise," said the rabbit.

  So the king gathered some bulrushes and made a nest with them. "Now you sleep here in this nest of bulrushes all night," said the king, "and your fur will grow back."

  The rabbit did as he was told. The next morning he went to the king and said, "Thank you very, very much. My fur grew back and I'm well again. Thank you, thank you, thank you."

  Then the rabbit went hopping off along the seashore, dancing and singing. He never tried to fool anyone again.

  The Graterul Statues

  Once upon a time there lived a kind old couple in a village in Japan. They were very poor and spent every day weaving hats out of straw. Whenever they finished a number of hats, the old man would take them to the nearest town to sell.

  One day the old man said to the old woman, "It will be New Year's Day in two days. How I wish we had some rice cakes to eat then! Even one or two little cakes would be enough. Without rice cakes we won't be able to celebrate the
new year."

  "Well, then," said the old woman, "after you've sold these hats we're making, buy some rice cakes for New Year's Day."

  So early the next morning the old man took the five new hats that they had made and went to town to sell them. But when he got to town he was unable to sell a single hat. And to make things worse, it began to snow very heavily.

  The old man felt very sad as he trudged wearily home with his hats. He was walking down a lonesome mountain trail when he suddenly came upon a row of six stone statues of Jizo, the protector of children, all covered in thick snow.

  "My, my! Now isn't this a pity," said the old man. "These are only stone statues of Jizo, but even so, just think how cold they must be, standing here in the snow."

  "I know what I'll do!" said the old man to himself. He unfastened the five new hats from his back and began tying them, one by one, onto the heads of the statues.

  When he came to the last statue he suddenly realized that all the new hats had been used. "Oh, my!" he said, "I don't have enough hats." But then he remembered his own scarf. So he took it off his head and tied it on the head of the last statue. Then he went on his way home.

  When he got home the old woman was waiting for him by the fire. She took one look at him and cried, 'You must be frozen half to death! Quick, come sit by the fire. What did you do with your scarf?"

  The old man shook the snow out of his hair and came to the fire. He told the old woman how he had given all the new hats as well as his own scarf to the six Jizo statues. He also said he was sorry that he hadn't been able to bring home any rice cakes.

  "That was a very kind thing you did for the statues," said the old woman. She was very proud of the old man and said, "It's better to do a kind thing like that than to have all the rice cakes in the world. We'll get along without any rice cakes for New Year's Day."