Sunday 16 February 2014

FOLKLORE FROM JAPAN

ONCE upon a time, there lived an old man and his wife. They were very poor. To make a living, the old man went to the jungle to cut some bamboos and later sold them.

One day, as usual the old man went to the jungle. He found one big bamboo. He was so happy. He hoped he could get more money by selling this big bamboo.
Right before the old man cut the bamboo, it was suddenly shining.
The old man was so curious so he carefully cut the big bamboo.

The man could not believe what he saw. There was a baby girl inside the bamboo! She was so small yet so cute. The old man was so extremely happy. He immediately brought the baby home.
The old man's wife was also happy.

They both did not have a child. They decided to raise the baby girl and named her Kaguya.
Kaguya grew as a very beautiful girl. She became very famous. People even called her Princess Kaguya.
Lots of men, poor and rich, fell in love with her. They came to propose her and asked to marry her.

Sadly, Kaguya refused those men’s proposal. They started to leave the old man’s house. They gave up.
However, there was one man who refused to give up and insisted to marry her. He was an emperor.
The old man said, “Kaguya, there is an emperor outside waiting for you. He said that he will not leave this house until you marry him.” Kaguya replied, “Father, please tell him that I cannot marry him.” The old man had been so curious with Kaguya. He and his wife did not understand why Kaguya always refused any men’s proposal. He could not hold his emotion anymore. He was so upset.

“Please tell me why you don’t want to get married. What kind of man are you looking for? An emperor is waiting for you outside and you ignore him?” yelled the old man.
“Do you want me to tell you the truth, Father?” Kaguya’s tears were rolling down her cheeks.
“Yes, tell us the truth,” replied the mother.

“I’m actually not a human. I’m from the moon. My king sent me to earth as my punishment. I have
done a terrible thing, Mother.” The old man and his wife were speechless when they heard what Kaguya just said.
“Are you telling the truth?” asked the old man.

“Yes, Father... I’m telling you the truth. I cannot marry a man from earth. It’s because I will go to moon soon. My punishment is almost over, Father.” “What do you mean?” asked the old man.
“My King will send his guards to bring me back to the moon,” explained Kaguya.

The old man immediately told the emperor about what Kaguya had just said. The emperor directly asked his army to guard the house. He asked them to protect Kaguya from the guards of the moon.
Not long after that, army from moon fi nally came! They attacked the emperor’s army. Sadly, the moon’s army won! The emperor was wounded! They brought Kaguya back to the moon.

Before she left the earth, Kaguyasaid goodbye to her parents and thanked them for raising her. The old man and his wife could no longer hold the tears from falling down.

Kaguya then gave medicine to the emperor to heal his wound. The medicine was called Fuji. It could make people immortal and live eternally. After Kaguya left the earth, the emperor ordered to burn the medicine in the highest mountain in Japan. Since then the mountain is called ‘Fuji Mountain’.


Source Media Indonesia, 16/2/2014

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