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who with his three companions, a dog ("inu"),
a monkey ("saru"), and a pheasant ("kiji")
defeated the monsters of evil and brought
peace and happiness to his land.
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, and old woman ("Obaasan") 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."
Ojiisan were getting ready to cut it open, the
peach split in two and out jumped
a healthy little boy!
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
Obaasan and Ojiisan,
Momotaro
grew and became strong.
One day Momotaro said
to Obaasan 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.
Obaasan 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."
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 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.
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."
by the pheasant who said, "The monsters are
asleep, now is a good time to attack!" "Let's go!"
yelled Momotaro as they 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.
"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 theblue
monster's neck, scratching and kicking him.
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.
to his knees and pleaded for mercy and
forgiveness."Oh,Momotaro, please don't
hurt me. I will dowhatever 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!"
"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!
~NEXT~
