Hukumusume fairy tale collection > Classical stories of the world > August


illustrator　「夢宮 愛」　SNS　「夢見る小さな部屋」

A wish of an old woman

Old story of Papua New Guinea

・Japanese  ・English　・Japanese＆English

　Once upon a time in a certain place, there was a really large boneyard.

　Many soul of the dead were sleeping there.

　And every soul wishes for its revival again.

　One day, an old woman died.

　And she was buried in this boneyard.

　However, she didn’t want to go to her rest.

“I wanna live. I wanna live!”

　She was saying so while she squeezed dust.

　And she struggled to a sitting position out of her grave.

　Though, it was so cold above ground.

　She was shivering with her upper body on to the ground.
“Oh my god! It’s cold, it’s cold!”

　Then, a boy walked pass her.

　The old woman asked the boy.
“Hello, boy. You are good boy, so please bring a fire to me.”

　I want to warm my stone-cold body.

　If my body becomes warm, I will come out of here. If I come out of here, I will come back to life!”

「・・・・・・」Silence

　But the boy declined her request.
“Please, dear boy. Bring a fire to me!”

「・・・・・・」Silence

　How hard the old woman asked the boy, the boy only to say no with fear.
“Well, it’s too cold. I prefer to under the ground than coming out of my place.”

　She got impatient with cold and Go back into her grave reluctantly again.

　After that time,

　the old woman would never go out of her grave.

The end

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