Japanese Folktale: The Grateful Crane

There are excellent folktales all over the world. Of course, there are many folktales in Japan, too. Each folktale is unique to its country. And there are many lessons to be learned. Future generations should learn from them. Furthermore, old stories record the beauty of the old times of a country. People become patriotic by reading those old stories. For an American audience, books like Japanese Tales can provide a good introduction to Japanese stories. Let's all cherish the memories of our own homeland.

In this article, we are going to introduce some of the most beautiful and famous Japanese folk tales. Let’s start.

“Tsuru no Ongaeshi,” or “The Grateful Crane,” is one the most famous Japanese folk tales. A famous Japanese playwright made a theatrical production of this story, so almost every Japanese person knows this story. One part of this story that appears in many different cultures is the theme of a character being punished for breaking a rule or taboo. You can see similarities between this story and the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.

The Grateful Crane

Once upon a time, there was an old man and his wife who lived in the countryside. They were poor, but very kind.

One cold snowy day, on his way home from selling firewood to the town, the old man saw something moving in the snow. “What is that?”, he said.

The grandfather found a crane hanging in a trap. The snare tightened around the crane. The old man felt very sorry for her. "Be still. Don't move. I'm coming to your aid.” When he saved the crane, the crane jump toward the mountain. She flew in the direction of the city. When he returned home, he told the story to his wife. "I did a good thing today,”

he said, "I saved a crane from a trap.”

Then there was a knock at the door.

Who is it? The old woman opened the door. A beautiful girl was standing there. “I'm sorry to trouble you so late. I came to this village to visit my friend, but I got lost in the heavy snow. Could you let me stay here for the night?”

“It's especially cold tonight,” said the old woman, “so come on in. As you can see we are poor and we don't have enough bedding. But please stay there if you have to.” The girl was delighted by these words and decided to stay there.

It continued to snow for several days. The daughter took care of everything for them, cooking, washing clothes and doing everything else with a kind heart. Before going to bed, she gently massaged the shoulders of the two of them. They thought of the girl as my own child, since they had no children of their own.

One night, the daughter said, "Let me be your daughter.” The old couple were delighted and said yes without hesitation.

One day, the daughter said, "I would like to weave a beautiful cloth. Can you go buy me some yarn?” The grandfather quickly bought some thread. As she began to work, she said, "I'm going to start the loom now. Please, do not ever look into the room while I am working on the cloth.” “All right, I won't peek,” said her mother. “You will make a beautiful cloth.”.

The girl shut herself up in her room and started to run the loom all day long, but she didn't come out at night.  The loom continued to spin for three days. The old couple and listened to the sound of the loom.

On the third night, when the noise stopped, the daughter came out of the room with a roll of cloth in her hand. “Father and mother," she said, "take a look at this! Father, it is done.” “It is a beautiful fabric, a fabric that I have never seen before,” said the old man. “What a beautiful weave! I've never seen such beautiful weaving before.” said the old woman.

“This is called crane weaving,” replied the daughter. “Please go to town tomorrow and sell them and bring me more yarn.” The next day, grandfather went into town. "Do you want some crane weaving? Don't you want some crane weaving?” The grandfather walked around the town. It was sold for a lot of money, so the grandfather bought some yarn and other things. And he went home happy.

The next day, the daughter began to weave again. When three days had passed, the old man said to her, “How do you make such wonderful textiles? I'd like to have a peek at them.” But the girl refused. “Please,” she said, “you must not look at me while I am weaving.”

The old man relented. But the old lady didn't listen to her.

“Just a little peek can’t hurt,”' she said, as she finally looked in the room where her daughter was weaving.

To her shock she saw a crane using its long beak to pull out its own feathers and weave them into the thread. There were very few feathers left on the crane’s body.

The woman went to tell her husband. "I saw a crane dancing in the room!” she whispered to him. That night, the daughter came out of her room with a piece of cloth in her hand.

“I will never forget your kindness” she said. “I am the crane that you rescued from the snare. I came to return the favor, but I can't stay here anymore because you saw my secret. Thank you, and goodbye.”

She stretched out her hands and turned into a crane, which flew up into the sky, over the house and over the mountains.