Kaguya
Hime
By Yoshiko Fushimi
Once
upon a time, there lived a kind old man and his wife in a village.
One day, when the old man went to the bamboo forest, he found a
shining bamboo. Upon cutting it, he found inside a baby girl. The
old man and woman decided to bring her up because they had no children.
They named the baby "Kaguyahime." Whenever he went to
cut bamboo after that, the old man found money in the bamboo. They
became rich.
Kaguyahime
grew steadily and became a beautiful lady. She had a lot of young
men who wanted to marry her. But she didn't show interest. She always
looked up at the night sky.
Her
father asked her, "What makes you so sad? What's the matter?"
She
said, "I'm all right. But, to tell the truth, I was born on
the moon. I must return to the moon on the night of the 15th of
November when angels will come to meet me."
"That's
nonsense," said the father, very embarrassed and angry.
The
next day was the 15th. The father hoped she would never return to
the moon. On that day, the moon was appearing over the mountain,
when a gold light flashed. An angel came down. Kaguyahime couldn't
help following the light. She slowly flew up into the sky hand in
hand with the angel. Nothing could stop them.
The
old man and his wife could do nothing but watch her departure.
|
