On a warm spring day a woman traveling with two small children boarded a boat.
Just when the boat was about to leave, “Hey wait!”
A samurai came running, waving his hands and jumped on to the boat.
The boat left.
The samurai sat right in the middle of the boat. Since it was so warm, he soon began to doze off.
The tough samurai with his black beard looked kind of silly with his head nodding sleepily and the children began to laugh.
Their mother put her finger to her lips. “Sssshhhh!” The children quieted down.
After a while, one of the children said, “Mom, give me candy.” and held out a hand.
Then the other child said, “Me, too.”
The mother took out her bag and looked inside but there was only one candy left.
“Give it to me!” “Give it to me!”
The children were demanding candy from both sides.
Since she only had one candy, she didn’t know what to do.
“Be good and wait. When we reach the other side I will buy more.”
But the children just whined, “Give it to me!” “Give it to me!”
The samurai opened his eyes and watched the children beg.
The mother was worried. If they interrupted the samurai’s nap he must be angry, she thought.
“Quiet down,” she tried to sooth the children but they wouldn’t listen.
The samurai took out his sword and went to the mother and children.
The mother was scared and hid her children. She thought he wanted to cut the children who had interrupted his nap.
“Give me the candy,” the samurai said. The scared mother gave him the candy.
The samurai placed the candy on the boat and cut it in two with his sword.
He handed one piece to each child.
Then he went back to the middle of the boat and his nap.
おくづけ
「あめだま」英語
さく:にいみ なんきち
え:いのう みどり
翻訳:マシュー・ターケル
朗読:イーダ・スターナー・金子
音楽:秋山裕和
企画:にほんごの会くれよん
制作:多言語絵本の会RAINBOW
協力:NPO法人 地球ことば村
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