SCENE 1 - Near a lake
ナレーター １

むかしむかしあるところに、

ナレーター 2A long time ago, there was a young man who lived in a small village. One day as hewas on his way home from working in the fields, he discovered the most beautiful
clothes he had ever seen.

ひこぼし

ああ、

ナレーター 2

He wanted the clothes very badly, so he quietly put them in his basket and started towalk away...

おりひめ

すみません！

ひこぼし

え！ だれ？！

おりひめわたしです。

おりひめです。

ひこぼし

ふくですか。

しりません。

ナレーター １

Orihime asked the young man whose name was Hikoboshi, to return her robe offeathers. She explained that she came from up in the heavens and had just came
down to the pool to take a bath. Without her robe of feathers, she could not return toher home. She was very upset but he pretended not to understand and said:

ひこぼし

しかたないですね。

おりひめ

はい...

ナレーター 2

Unable to go back to heaven, Orihime was forced to remain on earth. Eventually
Orihime and the young man married.

きれい！

いいなあ。

ぼくのわかいおとこのひとがすんで いました。

ほしいなあ。

わたしのうちへ

ふくいっしょにしりませんか。

いきましょう。

SCENE 2 - At home
ナレーター １

One day several years later、while Hikoboshi was working in the fields, Orihime
found her robe of feathers hidden between two beams in the ceiling.

おりひめあっ！

ナレーター 2

Orihime put on the robe of feathers and began to feel like the heavenly being she hadonce been.

ナレーター １That evening when her husband came home, he was surprised to see Orihime
wearing the robe of feathers, standing in front of the house. Orihime began rising up
toward heaven.

ひこぼし

まって！

おりひめ

せん
ぞうりを
千 ぞく つくってください。 そして たけの まわりにさい。
そうすれば, また あえます。 わたしは まって います。

これは …

おりひめ！

かえらないで。
うめてくだ© 2014 The Japan Foundation, Sydney, All rights reserved.

ナレーター 2

Orihime said that if he loved her he must weave 1000 pairs of zoori straw sandals andbury them around the bamboo tree. She would wait for him.

ナレーター １The very next day he began making the zoori straw sandals. He continued weaving
them day and night. At last he finally finished making his last pair and buried themaround the bamboo tree.

ひこぼし

やったあ！

ナレーター 2Right away the bamboo tree began to get bigger and bigger, and it grew higher andhigher into the sky.

ひこぼし

よいしょ、

ナレーター 2The young man began climbing the bamboo tree. He climbed higher and higher until
he was almost able to reach heaven. But because he had wanted to see Orihime sobadly, he rushed too quickly in making the straw sandals and had only made 999pairs.

ひこぼし

やっとよいしょ、いっ1 そくええ！？

おわりました。

よいしょ …

たりない？

なんで！

ナレーター 2The tree stopped one step short, and the young man's hand could not reach theheavens above.

ひこぼし

おりひめ！

おりひめ

ああ！

おりひめ！

たすけて！

ひこぼし！

（She extended her hand to her husband and pulled him over the clouds. ）SCENE 3 - The Milky Way
ナレーター 1

Orihime's father was not happy that she had married from earth. He set some tasks
for Hikoboshi to complete, hoping to make him miserable.

おうさま

はたけに

ナレーター 2

His first task was to plant thousands of seeds in the fields of clouds.

ひこぼしわかりました。

ナレーター 1He then set off to complete his task. It took him three days to complete the task.

ひこぼし

やっとおうさまちがう！

ナレーター 2The king was furious and told him that he had planted the seeds in the wrong field. So
Orihime quickly gathered her friends, the birds, and they helped Hikoboshi replant theseeds.

ひこぼしありがとう。

ナレーター 1The king was not amused and quickly thought of another impossible task for him to

このたねをうえなさい。

おわりました！
このはたけじゃない！

あのはたけだ！！

たすかりました。

© 2014 The Japan Foundation, Sydney, All rights reserved.

do.
おうさま

もうひとつしごとをしなさい。

ナレーター 2He had to stand guard over the field of melons for three days and nights without
eating the melons.

おうさま

この メロンのは だめだぞ。

ひこぼし

はい、

ナレーター １

Watching the melon field made the young man extremely thirsty, but if he ate one ofthe melons, he knew something terrible would happen.

ナレーター 2

But as the three days went by, the young man grew thirsty and he couldn’t bare it anymore. He reached for a melon. The instant he did, water burst forth from the fruit andbecame a flowing river.

ひこぼし

おりひめ！

おりひめ

ひこぼし！

ナレーター １

In an instant the two were pulled apart from each other.
The two sweethearts looking across the river at each other became the stars Altairand Vega.

ナレーター 2

Orihime's father allows them to meet, but only once a year, on the night of July 7. To
this day these two stars face each other across the Milky Way, shining brightly.

はたけをまもりなさい。

でもメロンはぜったいにたべてがんばります！

© 2014 The Japan Foundation, Sydney, All rights reserved.