Most of Japanese really love fairy tales. Because we read so many times with parents in childhood.
The fairy tale still continues to be read from one generation to another.
Let me share famous fairy tale with picture book. Let's try to read it.
This article was produced by General Incorporated Association of International Digital E-hon.
Some time not so long ago, an old man lived in a village alone.
He gathered firewood in the mountains and sold it in town to make living.
One day, as his firewood was sold out earlier than usual, the old man started home when the sun was still high. The weather that day was especially nice, and pretty flowers were in bloom by the roadside.
“Umm, nice view. I'm gonna take a short rest here,”
He said as he sat on a stone at the roadside, and started drinking rice wine he had bought in town and had put in a gourd shell.
Enjoying the nice view around him, he happened to see a human bone in the grass nearby.
“Well well, it's a sad thing that some one probably had died here with no one knowing it. You must have been very lonely here. Now, join me to drink wine and enjoy this view,”He talked to the bone as he pour his wine over the bone.
The next day, when he came to the same place on his way to town to sell firewood, a pretty girl was standing there.
“Thank you yesterday, dear old man. You treated me kindly by sharing your rice wine. Three years ago, when I was walking on this road, I suddenly got ill and died here,”
The girl said.
“But nobody had ever noticed me and I was feeling very lonely here. Then you found me yesterday, and I really had a good time with you, drinking wine and watching the pretty flowers,”
She continued and then asked,
“My parents live in town. Please go with me to see my parents.”
The old man went to the girl’s house with her. It was a nice, big house. There was a crowd of people there as they were having a memorial service for the third anniversary of the girl’s death.
“Hold the sleeve of my kimono, please, and no one will see us,”
said the girl.
The old man held her kimono sleeve as she told him to, and went into the reception room with the girl’s lead. A priest was giving a prayer in the room.
The girl offered the old man the food and wine before the altar. The old man had them one after another. Seeing the offering disappear, the priest and the girl’s family members were astonished.
“My, it was a feast. I’m so full,”
said the old man after eating and drinking as much as he could.
“I will leave then, but you please stay here. I beg you to,”
The girl said and went out alone.
As soon as the girl had left, the old man’s figure became visible.
Everybody in surprise drew near him and asked,
“Who on the earth are you? How did you get in here?”
The old man explained to them what had happened to him since the day before.
“So, you found our daughter’s bone. Thank you, thank you. And our daughter could make it back home today. It’s certainly fortunate,” The girl’s parents thanked the old man in joyful tears.
At the parents’ request, the old man took them to the mountain road where the bone was found.
Having found their daughter’s bone after three years, the parents felt relieved though sad at the same time.
Being grateful to the old man, the parents offered the old man a room in their house.
Thus, the old man had a comfortable life as long as he lived.
The end
Is there any similar story in your country? Some fairy tales were introduced by other countries and mixed with own culture. I hope that you enjoy reading famous fairy tale.
What do you think of this fairy tale?
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