Japanese Children's Favorite Stories Book 1 (6 page)

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.