Hukumusume fairy tale collection > Japanese classical stories > September


illustrator　 Hio

Feathered robe of a heavenly maiden

・Japanese  ・English　・Chinese

・Japanese&English  ・Japanese&Chinese

アニメサイズ Max 2880×2160　字幕「日本語」「英語」「中国語」

　Once upon a time, there lived a hunter called Ikatomi at foot of a mountain.

　It was a sunny spring morning.
　As usual, Ikatomi climbed up the mountain, looking around for animals to hunt.

“What a lovely morning.”
　Ikatomi looked up at the sky. It was when he saw some objects like layers of white mist flying in the clear blue sky.
　Mysteriously, the white objects were floating in the air and coming down to the nearby lake.

“Oh, are they swans? Eight of them.”
　Ikatomi hurried to the lake.

　To his surprise, it was not swans but eight young beautiful ladies that were swimming in the lake. He had never seen such beautiful ladies.
　Ikatomi looked around and happened to find pure white clothing hanging over a pine tree branch that is slightly away from him.

“What beautiful clothing. These must be feathered robes of the heavenly maidens.
　I will take one back home and keep it as my family treasure.”
　Ikatomi put one of the feathered robes into his pocket.

　Before long, the heavenly maidens came out of the water. They put the feathered robes back on and flew up into the sky.
　However, one of the heavenly maidens was left alone there.
　She was unable to go back to the heaven because Ikatomi took her feathered robe away.
　Ikatomi saw the heavenly maiden weeping sadly. He felt sorry and gave her feathered robe back to her.

“Oh, lovely!  Thank you.”
　The heavenly maiden smiled at Ikatomi. He was so fascinated by her that he decided not to give her feathered robe back to her.
“I cannot give this feathered robe back to you. Please marry me instead.”
　The heavenly maiden asked him to return it over and over again, but Ikatomi never did.
　The heavenly maiden had no choice but to be his wife.

　Then, three years passed.
　Ikatomi and the heavenly maiden got along with each other.However, the heavenly maiden always missed her home in the heaven and wanted to go back there.

　One day, Ikatomi went out for hunting.

　The heavenly maiden was cleaning the house when she noticed there was a black paper packet above the ceiling.
　She opened the paper packet and found her feathered robe in it.

“… What can I do?”
　The heavenly maiden did not know what to do.
　All these years with Ikatomi, she found herself in love with him.
　I still want to go home in the heaven.
　Should I stay here in this world with Ikatomi as his wife, or should I go home?
　She thought and thought. Eventually, she decided to go home.

　Meanwhile, Ikatomi hunted a lot of animals so he sold them in a town and bought a pretty comb for the heavenly maiden. He was on his way back home.
　He happened to look up at the sky when

　he saw his wife, the heavenly maiden, going back to the heaven.
“Oh, no, no!  Hey, wait, please!”
　Ikatomi ran after her as much as he could, but eventually, the heavenly maiden was gone.

The End

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