Hukumusume fairy tale collection > Foreign language (English) > Japanese classical stories

The Crane of Gratitude

(Japanese classical stories)

Translation　Laurence Hunter

おりがみをつくろう ( おりがみくらぶ より) つる　　　こうはくつる①

Japanese　←→　Japanese ＆ English　←→　English

　Once upon a time, there lived an exceedingly poor but very kind old man and his wife.



　One very cold winters day, the old man decided to go off to town to sell some firewood.

　But there in the middle of a field the old man saw a crane struggling in a trap that had been laid.

"Oh no, what a poor thing"

　So the old man went over and freed the poor bird.

　The crane then rose up above the old man’s head, circled around three times and cried out,

"Caw, caw ,caw"

　Then after crying out happily, it flew off.



　That evening as twilight came, snow began to fall and piled up heavily.

　The old man was in the middle of telling his wife the subject of the crane, when from behind the door…

　Knock, knock

　There came a sound.

“Hello, is anybody there? Open up please."

　Came the voice of a young lady.

　When the old man’s wife opened the door, there was a young girl standing, covered from head to toe in snow.

　The old lady was very surprised,

"Well well, you must be cold. Come on in, quickly.

　And so, the young girl was let into the house.

"I called all around.

　No matter how much I tried, I just couldn’t find a place to stay while the snow was falling and darkness came over me, but somehow I found this place.

　I know it is probably too much too ask ,but would it be possible for me to stay here one night?"

　The girl held her hands together and politely begged for her request.

"Why, of course. How distressed you must be.

　If such a place as this is agreeable to you, then by all means, please stay."

"Thank you so much"

　The young girl was very glad at hearing this. That night she helped out with the cooking and housework, and then took a rest.



　The very next morning, the old lady was surprised to see that the girl had awoken and started the house chores.

　Fire burned from the hearth and steam was rising up from their stewpot.

　What is more, the house had been cleaned from top to bottom.

"Apart from making the rice you have also cleaned the house as well. Thank you"



　The next day and the next, thick snow fell and fell and the front door could not be opened.

　The girl then started to massage the old man’s shoulders.

"Ahh, what a hard working girl you are.

　And how thoughtful and kind you are too.

　How happy I am when someone like you is around."

　The old man and his wife both looked at each other in agreement.

　The young girl then held her hands together again and begged their kindness.

"I am a girl with no relatives.

　Please, could you allow me to stay in this house."

"Pardon "

"Well, well I...."

　So the old man and his wife happily agreed. The three of them, poor but merrily lived together from that day on.



　Now, one day.

　The girl expressed her desire to make a line of cloth on their loom, so she asked for some thread to be bought.

　After the old man had bought the thread, the young girl set up a folding screen around the loom.

"Until I have finished weaving this cloth, please, do not EVER look behind this screen ."

　After saying so, she started her weaving.

　Up and down, went the noise of the loom.

　After three days of weaving had passed

　The cloth was finally finished.

"Please go down to town to sell this silk cloth I have woven and on the way back, please buy some more thread."

　The girl then showed off her woven cloth, which was as beautiful and as light as the clouds in the sky.

"This is truly wonderful."

　The old man set off for the town as was able to sell the cloth for a very high price to the lord of the domain.

　The old man was overjoyed and quickly bought some more thread and returned home.

　Once more, the girl picked up the thread and started weaving.

"Hey, husband. How can that girl produce such fine cloth do you think?

　... Let me just have a peek at her?"

　When the old lady looked through the gap in the screen, there was no girl to be seen anywhere.

　Apart from a skinny white crane. What’s more, the crane with its long white beak was pulling out its feathers and folding them into the cloth it was weaving.

"Husband, husband, quick"

　The astonished old lady then told her husband all about what she had seen.

　Up and down, up and down ...went the loom

　Soon, the noise of the loom stopped and out from behind the screen came a thinner than before girl, holding a piece of cloth.

"Old man, old lady. I can’t hide myself any longer can I

　For I am the crane that was saved by you in the field.

　I wanted to repay my kindness to you .So I became this girl.

　But, now I must leave.

　Please live long and prosperously."

　After saying this, the young girl ,without listening to the old man and his wife’s pleas for her to stay, turned back into a crane and flew high up into the sky.

　Then ,three times she flew around above the house,

"Caw, caw, caw"

　And then flew off over the mountains and far away.

"It was a crane. No, no a girl.

　Please live happily ever after yourself.

　... Thank you for everything."

　The old man and his wife looked on in the direction of where the crane had flown off.

　And so, with the money they had made from selling the girl’s cloth they lived happily ever after.

The end

One piece of advice: One good deed is almost always returned for another.

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