Written by Natsuko Hama
Illustration by Yohei Yokoyama
Long,long ago, there lived a lone young man in a mountain village.
“Today I will go to the mountains again to cut down some trees.”
Flap flap flap!
Something white fell from the sky.
“Oh, it is a crane. You poor thing, there is an arrow stuck in you. Here, let me help you.”
The young man pulled the arrow out of the crane and washed it in the clean water of a river.
As he did so, the crane recovered.
“Go, return to the sky.”
When the young man lifted the crane into the sky, the crane flew away with great momentum.
Several days after this, someone knocked on his door in the middle of the night.
“Who could it be on such a snowy night?”
The young man opened the door, and there stood a beautiful girl with white skin.
“Please take me as your bride.”
“What are you saying! There is no one that wants to be the bride of such a poor home.”
“That is not true. Please take me in!”
The young man felt like he was dreaming, but he let the girl in.
The girl became the young man’s bride, and they lived happily together.
The following happened one day.
“I will now weave cloth in the shack. Please do not look inside while I am weaving.”
“I understand. I promise. I will not look.”
Thump thump, Thump thump, He could hear the sound of weaving.
Like this, three days passed.
“Here, this is the cloth that I have weaved.”
“You have grown very skinny. You must be tired! But what beautiful cloth! I will go to the town to sell this.”
The cloth was so beautiful that dozens of people asked to buy it.
Among them, there was one person who wore a very fine Kimono.
“I want to bring this cloth to His Majesty as a gift. Please weave one more for me. I will pay you as much money as you need.”
The young man happily went home.
“That cloth will become His Majesty’s kimono. He wants one more.”
“One more. I understand. Again, please do not look inside the shack while I am weaving.”
And thus, the bride went back into the shack.
However this time, the sound of her weaving was dull.
Thu…mp thu…mp, Thu…mp thu…mp
“I wonder what is happening. It is such a weak sound.”
The young man became worried. Unable to resist, he opened the door. What he saw was a lone crane who had been removing its own feathers to weave the cloth.
“Oh, it is you!”
“Yes. I am the crane that you saved. I have loved you from that moment.
But, now that you have seen this appearance it is over. I cannot stay with you. Goodbye.”
Saying this, the crane flew high into the sky.
おくづけ
「つるのよめさま」英語
文:浜 なつ子
絵:よこやま ようへい
翻訳、朗読:ステファニー佐久間
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
"This work is not for sale, nor for revision, nor for any change".