Japanese Children's Favorite Stories Book 1 (8 page)

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!"

"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 into 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.