Hukumusume fairy tale collection > Story Top > Short stories of Edo

Catch kappa
(Short stories of Edo)

Translation　ちいさな翻訳屋さん

Make Origami ( ORIGAMI CLUB) kappa

Japanese　←→　Japanese ＆ English　←→　English

　Once upon a time, there was a very poor man.

　One day, he went up to a rich man’s house and said,

“Sir, I’ve found a great spot for catching kappa!

　But I need some meat for a bait.

　So, I am asking you for a lump of meat. I will return a favor if I catch kappa.”

　The rich man thought kappa is going to be worth a fortune, he gave poor man a lump of meat and said,

“I’d love to see you catching kappa.”

　Then the poor man said,

“Sure. But you have to promise me to hide behind the tree,

　and not to speak at all.

　If kappa hears a man’s voice, it will run away.”

　As soon as they arrived at a river the poor man hid his meat quickly in his pocket, made sure rich man won’t find out about any of it. The poor man tied a rock instead of a meat to his fishing line and threw it; the rock had splashed into the water.

　The rich man was watching poor man from behind the tree trying not to speak anything, but couldn’t hold himself any longer than an hour. He finally said to a poor man,

“Hey, anything yet?”

　Then the poor man said,

“Oh, Shucks! I was just about to catch kappa but it heard you and ran away…oh no, your meat is gone. This is not going to work anymore.”

　Then he quickly picked up his fishing rod and went back to his home with rich man’s meat in his pocket.

The end

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