The Crab and The Monkey

The Crab and The Monkey Once upon a time there was a crab and a monkey. One day they were wandering together when the crab happened to find a riceball in the grass. The monkey was feeling envious of the crab and wanted to find something too. So he looked very carefully in the grass and found a persimmon seed. But he was not happy with that, because he wanted to eat the riceball the crab had found. So he said, "Crab, why don't you have my seed instead of your riceball? A riceball is a good thing, but once you've eaten it up, it's over. However a persimmon seed is much better. You can sow it and later eat fine, juicy persimmons every year of your life." The crab thought about it, and finally agreed, thinking that actually the seed was better than the riceball. The crab took the seed and the monkey took the riceball which he ate up at once. Then they both went back home. Once she got home, the crab sowed the persimmon seed in the garden. Every day she poured water on it and gave it some fertilizer saying, "Hurry up, hurry up, persimmon seed; if you don't grow some buds, I'll pinch you!" So the seed hurried and started budding. Then the crab once more said, "Hurry up, hurry up, persimmon seed; if you don't grow into a beautiful tree, I'll pinch you!" So the seed hurried and became a beautiful tree. Then the crab said, "Hurry up, hurry up, persimmon tree; if you don't give me some fruits, I'll pinch you!" And the tree produced plenty of beautiful fruits.

The crab thought, "Great, I'm going to eat some fine, juicy persimmons!" She started climbing up the tree with all her pincers clinking, but she slipped on the trunk and fell. She tried again and again, but always fell back miserably. Then the monkey came by and when he saw the gorgeous fruit he wanted to eat some. So he said, "I found this seed, so I'm going to eat some persimmons." He climbed up the tree with agility and started stuffing himself with the reddest and best fruit. The crab, unable to climb up was calling, "Do give some fruit, I want to have some too!" So the monkey choose an unripe, hard fruit and threw it down violently at the crab. The fruit hit the shell of the poor crab, which broke in pieces. When the monkey found he had killed the crab, he ran away. Then from under the broken shell of their poor mother, little crabs came out crying. Hearing the little crabs crying, a bee came and asked them, "Little crabs, why are you crying?" "Mother is dead, she's been killed by the monkey", answered the poor little crabs. "What a wicked monkey", thought the bee. Then a chestnut came and asked, "Little crabs, why are you crying?" When the chestnut heard from the little crabs that the monkey had killed their mother, she too thought that the monkey was really bad. The bee and the chestnut were thinking of what to do when a mortar came by. They told him how the mother crab died and the three of them agreed that the monkey had to be punished for that. At last, a cow dung joined the little group and they decided to get the mother crab's revenge. They left for the monkey's place. The little crabs, the bee, the chestnut, the mortar, and the cow dung arrived at the monkey's place. As he was away for the moment, they hid themselves in the house : the chestnut went in the fire, the little crabs in a basin filled with water, and the bee waited on the top of the door. The mortar went on the roof and the cow dung spread itself at the doorstep. They were all hiding and waited silently until the monkey came back home. Finally the monkey came back. "Oh, I'm freezing", said he and sat near the fire to warm himself. At this minute the red-hot chestnut jumped on his back and burned him. "Ouch, ouch!" cried the monkey and ran towards the basin to pour some water on his burns. When he put his hand in the water, the little crabs rushed out and started pinching the monkey's body. The monkey, screaming with pain, ran towards the door and then, the bee who was waiting for him stung him on the face. The monkey now wild with pain and fear tried to go out of the house. He slipped on the cow dung at the doorstep and fell flat. The mortar was waiting for this to happen and let himself fall from the roof with a very very big crash, flattening the monkey. And that is how the little group got the mother crab's revenge. Translated and adapted from Japanese by Myriam Dartois Illustrated by Nobuteru Shiroshita

The Six Jizos and The Braided Hats

Once upon a time, there was an old man and an old woman. Though the old man earned his living making braided hats, the two of them lived poorly. One year, at New Year's Eve, they had no money left and could not even buy traditional rice cakes. The old man then decided to go to the town and sell some braided hats; he took five of them and went out. The town was quite far from his house and he walked for a long time in the fields. Then at last he arrived at the town and started crying, "Braided hats, who wants some braided hats! Fine braided hats!" The town was crowded with people shopping for New Year's Eve, buying fish, alcohol and rice cakes. At the end of the day everybody would go back home without buying a braided hat. People did not need braided hats on New Year's Eve, since they will be staying at home. The poor old man had walked so far to the town and for the whole day, though he shouted his voice off had not sold a single braided hat. Sadly, he could not buy any rice cakes and had to go back home. When he walked out of the town, snow began falling. The old man was very cold walking through fields in the snow when he happened to see a few statues made of stone, called Jizos. There were six of them and snow was piling up on their heads and icicles hanging from their faces. The old man was good-hearted and thought, "Oh, they must be so cold!" Then he wiped the snow from their heads, and put the braided hats he had not sold on the head of the statues, one by one, saying to them, "Nobody wanted these braided hats, so please use them." But he had only five hats, and there were six Jizos. One hat was lacking, so the old man gave his own braided hat to the last of the Jizos, saying, "I am sorry to give you an old hat." Then he went back home, walking through the fields. The old man came home covered with snow as he had given his own hat to the Jizo and walked bare-headed. When his wife saw him, she asked what had been going on and why he had not even his own hat. Then he told her the story of the Jizos, "Actually, I didn't sell even one hat today in town. But on my way back, I saw some poor Jizos. They seemed so cold with all this snow falling that I wiped the snow piled on their heads and gave them my unsold braided hats. However, there were six of them and I had only five hats, so I gave mine to the last of them." The old woman who was very kind too was happy about her husband giving the hats to the Jizos and said to him, "You did a very good thing; even if we are poor, we've got a house and they do not." Then they sat near the fire because it was quite cold, and had dinner. They had no rice cakes because the old man had not sold any hats, and there was also nothing else to eat, so they had some rice with pickles and went to bed early. In the middle of the night, they were awoken by the sound of singing. The voices were at first far from the house but then they came closer and closer. "Grandpa gave braided hats to the Jizos, Where does Grandpa live? Grandpa are you here?" The old man and the old woman were very surprised, and much more when they heard a loud noise, "Bang!" They went out to see what was going on, and were amazed when they opened the door. Lots of parcels were piled up in front of the house, on the threshold. There was rice, alcohol, fish, traditional rice cakes, New Year's Eve ornaments; nice, warm blankets and kimonos. They looked around them and saw the six Jizos walking away, and on their heads the braided hats the old man had given them. The Jizos had brought presents to the kind old man, showing their gratitude for his help and making him have a happy New Year. Translated and adapted by Myriam Dartois

Issunboshi

Once upon a time there was an old man and woman. They had no children and were miserable over it, so they prayed to the gods to give them a child. "Even if this child is not taller than a finger of the hand, we shall be happy." Then one day they had a child, as tall as a finger of the hand. The old man and woman were really happy. They had been looking forward to a child for such a long time! As the little boy was not taller than a finger of the hand, they named him "Issunboshi" -which means "tiny and small" in Japanese. They brought him up and were really fond of him. Years passed, but Issunboshi would not grow an inch. At three years old he was still a tiny little boy, and the same at five and ten years. He was still as tall as when he was born, that is, tall as a finger of the hand. The old man and his wife were really worried about it. Even if they did their best to care for him and made him eat a lot, it was no use. The little boy would not grow an inch. Issunboshi was so small that he could not help the old woman with the housework and when it was time to work in the fields with the old man, he could only carry one blade of grass at a time. Issunboshi was a fine singer and dancer, but he could not work because of his short height and was feeling miserable. Moreover, the children of the village would always laugh at him and call him "dwarf" or "midget". Issunboshi felt bad about everything and made up his mind to leave and travel. So he told the old man and woman, "I'm going to the capital, to find some work." The old man and his wife were sad at his leaving, but they gave him a bowl, a chopstick and a needle and said to him "Good luck." The little boy put the bowl on his head like an umbrella, had the needle for a sword and used the chopstick as a walking stick and away he went. He walked for miles and miles but the capital was very far and he still had miles to go. Then he met an ant and asked her if the city was still far away. The ant answered, "Take a short cut by the dandelions, walk through the field of horsetails and then go onto the river." Issunboshi thanked the ant and walked through the dandelions and the horsetails until he got to the river. There, the bowl he used as an umbrella became a boat, the chopstick a pole and the little boy embarked on the river, paddling firmly. After a while he came to a very big bridge where there were lots of people. Seeing this crowd, Issunboshi thought, "Here I am! That's the capital!" and stepped off of his little boat. The capital was a very large town, crowded with people who seemed busy. It was quite dangerous for the tiny Issunboshi; he could be crushed by the people who would not see him. So he thought, "I'd better take care and not get crushed" and went his way in quiet streets. While wandering in the streets he happened to come upon a gorgeous mansion; it was the home of a very rich and powerful lord. Issunboshi went to the the stairs and called, "Excuse-me, is there anyone in?" Somebody came but since he did not see the little Issunboshi went back muttering, "I thought I heard somebody calling but there's nobody there." Then Issunboshi called again, "I'm here, beside the shoes!" The man looked again, and at last he saw Issunboshi standing near the shoes which were down the stairs. He had never seen a man so tiny in his life! He leant forward and picked up Issunboshi, put him on his palm and looked at him with interest. Then he brought him to the princess' room. There Issunboshi sang and danced and he was so graceful that everybody was delighted. The princess liked so much this child tall as the finger of the hand that she decided he should stay with her. That is how Issunboshi came to live at the lord's residence as the help of the princess. When the princess read a book, he would turn the pages; when she practiced calligraphy, he would make the ink for her. He also practiced fencing using his needle as a sword. Issunboshi stayed close to the princess, who would always take him whenever she went out on a walk. One day, the princess went to the Kiyomizu shrine and was on her way back when a bandit assaulted her and tried to kidnap her. But Issunboshi was with the princess and he shouted, as loud as he could, "Wait! I, Issunboshi, am here! Beware, rascal!" The bandit, seeing the little Issunboshi laughed and retorted, "What are you going to do, midget?" And then he swallowed him. But the tiny Issunboshi was full of courage and with his needle, he jabbed the stomach of the bandit. He went up his throat and kept jabbing as hard as he could. The bandit was writhing with pain and shouting, "Ouch, ouch! It hurts!" But Issunboshi would not stop and finally jumped out of the nostrils of the bandit. The bandit then fled as fast as he could. Then the princess picked up something the bandit had dropped when he fled. It was a mallet of luck ! She told Issunboshi, "This is a mallet of luck; if you wish something and shake it, it is said that your wish will be fulfilled." The princess was really grateful that Issunboshi had saved her, so she asked him, "What do you wish?" The tiny Issunboshi, tall as the finger of the hand, answered, "My wish is to became taller." The princess shook the mallet of luck while saying, "Grow, grow! That Issunboshi should get taller!" Issunboshi grew taller and taller. At last, the princess was facing a charming young man. They went back to the residence, and there the lord was delighted with Issunboshi and allowed him to marry his daughter. Issunboshi called the old man and the old woman and all of them lived happily in the capital. Translated and adapted by Myriam Dartois

Stories courtesy of http://mhtml.ulis.ac.jp/~myriam/futsu/mokugb.html