Japanese Children's Favorite Stories Book 1 (3 page)

Monkey-Dance and Sparrow-Dance

Once there was an old woodcutter who went so far into the mountains one day for firewood that he became lost. He walked for a long time, not knowing where he was going, until he suddenly heard music in the distance and smelled the wonderful aroma of food and drink.

Climbing to the top of a hill, the old woodcutter saw a great crowd of monkeys. They were eating and dancing and singing, and drinking a wine that they had made from rice. The wine smelled so good that the old woodcutter wanted some for himself.

The monkeys sang and danced beautifully, much to the old woodcutter's surprise. Then one of the monkeys filled a gourd with wine and told the other monkeys that it was time for him to go home. The other monkeys wished him farewell. The old woodcutter decided to follow the monkey to see if he could get some of the wine for himself.

Before long, the wine gourd grew too heavy for the monkey to carry. He stopped and poured some of the wine into a small jar. He put the jar on his head, balancing it carefully, then hid the gourd in the hollow of an old tree and went merrily on his way.

The old woodcutter had been watching all this from behind a tree. When the monkey was gone, he said to himself, "Surely the monkey won't mind if I just borrowed some of his wine." So he ran to the hollow tree and filled his own gourd with some of the wine. "This is wonderful," he thought. "If this wine tastes as good as it smells, it must be very fine indeed! I'll give this to my wife—
if
I can find my way home."

While the old woodcutter was lost in the mountains, his wife was having her own adventure. She was washing clothes under a tree when she noticed the sparrows above her having a party. They were drinking a wine that smelled so good the old woman just had to have some.

So, when the sparrows had finished dancing and singing, the old woman quickly tucked one of their wine gourds under her robe and hurried home. "I'll give this to my husband," she thought, "and if it tastes as good as it smells, it must be very fine indeed!"

No sooner had she arrived home than her husband also appeared, having finally found his way. "I have something for you!" they said at the same time. They told each other their amazing stories, then exchanged their wine gourds and drank deeply.

The wine tasted delicious. But no sooner had they drunk it than they both felt an uncontrollable desire to dance and sing. The old woman began to chatter and jump around like a monkey, while the old woodcutter held out his arms and chirped like a sparrow.

First the old woodcutter sang:

"One hundred sparrows dance in the spring,
Chirp-a chirp, chirp-a chirp, ching!"

Then the old woman sang:

"One hundred monkeys making a clatter,
Chatter-chat, chatter-chat, chatter!"

They made so much noise that their landlord came running to their house. There he saw the old woman dancing like a monkey, and the old woodcutter dancing like a sparrow.

"Here, here!" said the landlord. "This will never do! A woman's dance should be graceful and ladylike, like a sparrow's, and a man's dance should be bold and manly, like a monkey's! Not the other way round!"

When the old couple finally stopped dancing, they told the landlord their adventures. "Well, of course!" He said. "You've been drinking the wrong wine. Why don't you exchange gourds and see what happens."

After that the old woodcutter always drank the monkey wine, and danced in a very manly way. And the old woman always drank the sparrow wine, and danced in a very ladylike way. Everyone who saw them dance thought them very lovely and started imitating them. And that is why to this day men leap about nimbly and boldly when they dance, while women are much more graceful and birdlike when they dance.

The Long-Nosed Goblins

Long ago there were two long-nosed goblins who lived in the high mountains of northern Japan. One was a green goblin and the other a red goblin. They were both very proud of their noses, which they could extend for many, many leagues across the land, and they were always arguing as to who had the most beautiful nose.

One day the green goblin was resting on top of his mountain when he smelled something very good coming from somewhere down on the plains. "My, but something smells good," he said. "I wonder what it is!"

So he started extending his nose, making it grow longer and longer as it followed the smell. His nose grew so long that it crossed seven mountains, went down into the plains, and finally ended up at a great lord's mansion.

Inside the mansion, the lord's young daughter, Princess White Flower, was having a party. Many princesses had come to the party, and Princess White Flower was showing them her rare and beautiful robes. They had opened the treasure house and taken out the wonderful clothes, all packed in incense. It was the incense that the green goblin had smelled.

Princess White Flower was looking for a place to hang her robes so that everyone could see them better. When she caught sight of the green goblin's nose, she said, "Oh, look, someone's hung a green pole here. We'll hang the robes on it!"

So the princess called her maids and they hung the beautiful robes on the goblin's nose. The green goblin, sitting far away on his mountain, felt something tickling his nose, so he began pulling it back in.

When the princesses saw the beautiful robes flying away through the air, they were very surprised. They tried to take back the robes, but they were too late.

The green goblin was very pleased when he saw the beautiful robes hanging from his nose. He gathered them up and took them home with him. Then he invited the red goblin, who lived on the next mountain, to come and see him.

"Just look what a wonderful nose I have," he said to the red goblin. "It's brought me all these wonderful robes!"

The red goblin was jealous when he saw the robes. He would have turned green with envy except that red goblins can't turn green.

"I'll show you whose nose is the best," the red goblin said. "Just you wait and I'll show you."

And so the red goblin sat on top of his mountain every day, rubbing his long red nose and sniffing the air. Many days passed and he still hadn't smelled anything good. He became very impatient and said, "Well, I won't wait any longer. I'll send my nose down to the plains anyway, and it's sure to find something good there."

So the red goblin started extending his nose, making it grow longer and longer, until it crossed seven mountains, went down into the plains, and finally ended up at the same lord's mansion.

At that moment the lord's young son, Prince Valorous, and his little friends were playing in the garden. When Prince Valorous caught sight of the red goblin's nose, he cried, "Look at this red pole that someone's put here. Let's use it as a swing!"

So the children tied some ropes to the red pole to make swings. Then how they played! They swung high up into the sky and climbed all over the red pole. One boy even cut his name into the pole with a knife.

How this hurt the red goblin, sitting back on his mountain! His nose was so heavy that he couldn't pull it back. But when his nose got cut, the red goblin shook the children off with all his might and pulled it back to his mountain as fast as he could.

The green goblin laughed and laughed at the sight. But the red goblin only sat stroking his nose and said, "This is what I get for being jealous. I'm never going to send my nose down into the plains again!"