A long, long time ago,in a land far away,
there lived a friendly people who loved to
sing and dance and dress their children in
colorful robes and ribbons and sashes at
festival time. Nature had given these people
lush green islands to live on, from the
island of the "snow country" in the north to
the warm and sunny island in the south.
Yes, nature had been good to them, placing
wonderful mountains throughout their land,
with tall, strong pine trees and trees that
bore fruit and trees that wore the delicate
pink
and white cherry blossoms in the
Springtime. Nature had given them cool, sparkling
rivers and rain and sun to help their crops
grow but it had also given them storms and
typhoons, earthquakes and even tidal waves to
test their spirit and make them strong.
The people worked hard and became strong and
were able to manage the trials and tests
that
nature had put them through but it was the
evil and unnatural forces that caused
them
pain and grief. On one of the nearby islands,
Oni ga Shima ("monster island"),
there dwelt a
tribe of monsters ("oni") whose pleasure seemed to come from causing
pain and suffering to
others, Whenever they felt bored or just
plain mischievous, the
monsters left their
island and descended upon the unsuspecting villagers, hurting them,
stealing from them
and even carrying their beloved children away
to monster island
where they became slaves.
It was all because of the evil oni that the friendly people
in this beautiful land could
not enjoy real happiness.
One day, an old woman ("Obasan") from the village went down to the
river
to wash clothes when she saw a giant
peach floating down stream."My,
what a
wonderful peach that is," she thought, " I'll
take it home
to Ojiisan (old man) and we
will eat it."
Obasan and
Ojiisan were very happy now because they had
a little boy to love and they named him "Momotaro" (peach
boy).
There was happiness in the house and with the love and
kindness of Obasan and Ojiisan,
Momotaro grew and
became strong. One day Momotaro said to Obasan and
Ojiisan, "It is time for me to
go to Oni ga Shima to do
battle with the evil
ones and to punish them for the
unhappiness
they have caused. Obasan prepared his
clothes
and made "kibi dango" (rice balls) for
Momotaro to
eat on his journey; luckily, she made more kibi dango than Momotaro
would need and this turned out to be a good thing
because he would
have to share it. "Gambate, kiyotsukete!"
("good luck and be careful")
they called to
him as he disappeared down the path.
Momo
Taro had not gone very far when he met a dog
who called to him, "Woof, woof!
Who are you
and where are you going?" "I am Momotaro and
I am going to fight the
evil ones." The dog replied,"If you
give me some of your kibi dango, I will go
with
you to Oni ga Shima. I am
strong and I will help you fight the evil oni."
Momotaro was happy to share his food with the dog and happy also to have a friend to
help him
fight the evil monsters. As they continued
their journey, Momotaro and his new
companion soon
came upon a monkey and a
pheasant who decided to join them on their
mission of good.
The four comrades, Momotaro, the
dog, the monkey and the pheasant
boarded a
boat which would take them to the island of
the evil monsters,
Oni ga Shima. The sea was rough that day but the four comrades were
determined in their mission to rid their land
of evil.
"Woof, woof!" barked the dog. "There it is, up
ahead!" "Kya, kya take down
the sail!" the
monkey screeched. "Kaen. kaen," chirped the
pheasant.
"I'll fly over the island and see
what the monsters are doing."
When the trio reached the shore, they were greeted
by the pheasant who said,
"The monsters are asleep, now is a good time to attack!" "Let's go!"
yelled Momotaro as the four comrades broke through the gate.
In an instant, the monsters arose and rushed to the attack. "I am Momotaro
and I have come
to punish you and your leader. Where is he?" "Here I am,"
said the
biggest and meanest looking monster. "A puny
little fellow like
you cannot defeat, me, I
will crush you!" growled the monster.
"Kill
them all!" he shouted to his oni
tribesmen.
The dog leaped on the red monster's
leg . "How do you like this?" he barked as he
sank his teeth into the monster's leg.
"Ouch, ouch!" cried the red monster as he
hobbled away screaming in pain. "Kack,
kack,"cried the monkey, jumping on
the blue
monster's neck, scratching and kicking
him.
"Kaen, kaen."screeched the pheasant as he flew into
the face of the monster chief. "I'll claw
your eyes! " Oh, no, no!" pleaded the
monster, "Please not my eyes!" Momotaro now
grabbed the monster chief's arm and began
striking him with his steel fan.
Coward that he really was, the monster chief fell to his knees and pleaded for mercy
and forgiveness."Oh,Momotaro, please don't hurt me. I will do whatever you say, only
please don't hurt me." "Good!" said Momotaro. "From this day onward, you will stay
on your island andleave the good people alone!" I will,I will, I promise," replied the
monster. "Alright" said Momotaro and he called to his companions, "Come, let's load
their stolen treasure into the cart and return it to the people it rightfully belongs to!" 
"Woof, woof," said the dog."Let's go home!" "Banzai, banzai" ("hurray, hurray")
screeched the monkey. "Kaen, kaen" answered
the pheasant. "I'm so happy!"
From that
time on, the friendly villagers lived happily. They sang and danced
and dressed their
beloved children in colorful robes and ribbons to celebrate this
new festival, the festival of Momotaro's victory over the evil oni
on Oni ga Shima!
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