The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1888-08-30
JAPANESE FAIRY STORY.
The Life of a Moon Maiden Visiting the
Earth.

One Of the best of the early stories OF
| the Japanese is the ''Taketori no
| Okina no MonOgotari," or, as trans
lated by Mr.. Victor Dickens and pub
lished under the title of, The Old
BAN mboo-Hewer's Story" The under
| lying ideas in it are obviously Chinese.
says the AtheH9u7ll, but the treatment
bears the impress of a mere imaginat-
i've race, and, told in the words Of Nj.
Dickens. it becomes a grace eful and
interesting story OF the bamboo-hcw-
er little is said and no hint given OF
the hidden virtue which marked him
out as a favoTite of the gods But lust
as the glory of Buddha appears only
TO the eyes of the faithful on the bosom
of the mists which spread over the val
leys beneath the mountain temples of
the god, and ths relics which to ordin-
airy mortals have the semblance of
dusky beads shine in the sight of de-
vout believers as lustrous tear drops.
so to the pious bamboo-hewer alone
| was revealed in the heart of bamboo
stem a shining light enc0mpasSing a
lovely figure of a tiny infant. With
recrpant care the wOOdman carried
home the child, who grew into a maid
en- of such surprising loneliness that
all the mobiles in the land sought her in
marriage. With her presence came
fortune to her protector. whose only
dread was the time would arrive when
he should lose the delight of her So
cicty by her marriage. But to his Joy
he found that She was rs unwilling to
accept the homage of her suitors as he
was to bestOw her hand Five of her
noble lovers, however, so perSistently
urged their suits that she had recourse
TO the eXpediont which in fairy tales of
all nations Is invariably adopted by
unwilling brides. TO each she set a
task rs dltliculttO accomplish as ''num-
bering sands and drinking oceans dry"
The first she sent in quest of the Holy
Grail. the sacred begging bowl of
Buddha; the second was ordered to
bring and lay at her feet a branch from
the tree whose roots are of silver,
whose trunk is of gold, and whose fruit
age is of pure white Jade, which grows
on the sacred mountain of Horal; the
third was commanded to present her
with a fur robe of the pelt of the flame
proof rat; from the fourth she required
1.-THE rainbow-hGed Jewel that hides its
Sl''tL AiE AtI' + IL bi-C 'tLs-Oii Ittttl
and the fifth was charged with the
search of the cowry-shell which the
swallows bring over the broad sea-
plain.
It's needless to say that one and all
failed to fulfill the required conditions.
Meanwhile the Mikado heard of the
beauty of the maiden, and, like the
Kings in the German forests, the Rus
sian wilds, and the Indian mountains,
he, under the pretense of hunting, aD-
preached the woodman's cottage and
succeeded in catching glimpse of the
lovely form of the Lady Kaguya. SO
enamored did he become of the vision
that he besought her to share his
throne. But no better did he fare than
the other lovers, and was fain to put
up with an occasional letter in reply to-
the missiycs which he constantly dis
patched to the woodman's hut. At
length the Lady kaguya announced to
her protector that the time had come
for her 80 return to her home in the
capital of the moon, whence she had
originally descended to the earth. And,
though on the appointed night a strong
guard was posted round the house by
order of the Mikado to prevent the
flight of the maiden. a troop of heaven
ly beings, cscortinga a chariot, descend
ed through the air and bore away their
prize to her celestial abode.