Читать книгу Peach Boy And Other Japanese Children's Favorite Stories - Florence Sakade - Страница 8

Peach Boy

Once upon a time there lived in Japan a kind old man and his wife. The old man was a woodcutter. He and his wife were very sad and lonely because they had no children.

One day the old man went into the mountains to cut firewood, and the old woman went to the river to wash clothes. No sooner had the old woman begun her washing than she was very surprised to see a big peach floating down the river. It was the biggest peach she’d ever seen in all her life. She pulled the peach out of the river and decided to take it home and share it with the old man for their supper that night.

Late in the afternoon the old man came home, and the old woman said to him, “Look what a wonderful peach I’ve found for our supper.” The old man said it was truly a beautiful peach. He was very hungry and said, “Let’s divide it and eat it right away.”

So the old woman brought a big knife from the kitchen and got ready to cut the peach in half. But just then a human voice called out from inside the peach. “Wait! Don’t cut me!” cried the voice. Suddenly the peach split open, and a beautiful baby boy jumped out of the peach.

The old man and woman were astounded. But the baby said, “Don’t be afraid. The God of Heaven saw how lonely you were without any children, so he sent me to be your son.”

The old man and woman were very happy, and they took the baby to be their son. Since he was born from a peach, they named him Momotaro, which means Peach Boy. They loved Momotaro very much and raised him to be a fine boy.

When Momotaro was fifteen years old, he said to his mother and father, “You have always been very kind to me. Now I am grown and I must do something to help our land. In a distant part of the sea is an island named Ogre Island. Many wicked ogres live there, and they often come here and do bad things like carrying people away and stealing our things. So I’m going to go to Ogre Island to fight them and bring back the treasures that they’ve stolen. Please let me do this!”

Momotaro’s mother and father were surprised to hear this, but they were also very proud of Momotaro for wanting to help other people. So they helped Momotaro get ready for his journey to Ogre Island. The old man gave him a sword and some armor, and the old woman fixed him a good lunch of millet dumplings. Then Momotaro began his journey, promising his parents that he would be home soon.

Momotaro went walking toward the sea. It was a long way. As he went along, he met a brown dog. The dog growled at Momotaro and was about to bite him, but then Momotaro gave him one of his dumplings. He told the dog that he was going to fight the ogres on Ogre Island. So the brown dog said he would go along, too, to help Momotaro.

Momotaro and the brown dog kept on walking and soon they met a monkey. The dog and the monkey started to have a fight. But Momotaro told the monkey that they were going to fight the ogres on Ogre Island. Then the monkey asked if he could go with them. So Momotaro gave the monkey a dumpling and let him join them.

Momotaro, the brown dog and the monkey kept on walking and soon they met a pheasant. The dog, the monkey and the pheasant were about to start fighting when Momotaro told the pheasant they were going to fight the ogres on Ogre Island. The pheasant asked if he could go too. So Momotaro gave the pheasant a dumpling and told him to come along with them.

So, with Momotaro as their general, the brown dog, the monkey and the pheasant, who usually hated each other, became good and faithful friends. They walked a long, long way, and finally reached the sea. There they built a boat and sailed across the sea to Ogre Island.

When they came within sight of the island, they could see that the ogres had a very strong fort there. And there were many, many ogres! Some of them were red, some were blue, and some were black.

First the pheasant flew over the walls of the fort and began to peck at the ogres’ heads. The ogres tried to hit the pheasant with their clubs, but he was very quick and dodged their blows. While the ogres weren’t looking, the monkey slipped into the fort and opened the gate. Then Momotaro and the brown dog rushed into the fort.

It was a terrible battle! The pheasant pecked at the heads of the wicked ogres, the monkey clawed at them with his nails, the brown dog bit them with his teeth, and Momotaro cut them with his sword.

At last the ogres were completely defeated. They bowed down before Momotaro and promised never to do wicked things again. Then they brought Momotaro all the treasure that they had stolen.

It was the most wonderful treasure you can imagine. There was gold and silver and many precious jewels. Momotaro and his three friends carried all of this back in their boat. Then they put the treasure in a cart and traveled throughout the land, returning to people all the treasure that the ogres had stolen.