Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1902-02-19
The Mysterious Box.

old couple living in wood which was
full Of all kinds Of wild animals. One
morning the old man went to gather
some wood in the forest, leaving his
old wife at home.
A little before noon the good woman
went to the creek to wash clothes,
when, to her astonishment, she saw a
fine, large peach floating upon the
water directly in front Of her. She
picked it up, but did not eat it at once.
She thought she would save it and
share it with her dear old man at din
ner, so she put it safely away in the
cupboard.
At noon when her husband came
home she cooked him q nice dinner.
While they were sitting at the table
she thought Of the peach she had found
In the creek and went to get 1t. When
she opened the door Of the cupboard, to
her great surprise she saw little baby
coming out of the peach.
ooh, wonderful! Oh, wonderful
was all the old woman could say.
The old man; hearing the exclama-
ton, Immediately went to see what
was the matter. He was as much
astonished as his wife at the sight Of
the baby.
TT is very good, dear wife," said he.
''for we have no child Of our own, SO
we will take this one and bring 1t up
as ours"
So she took the baby and wrapped 1t
carefully and put it into a basket and
placed it by the window.
In a few days the child grew SO large
basket, so she took a strong string and
tied one end to the baby and the other
to a milestone to keep 1t from getting
away. But notwithstanding the child
was SO strong that 1t went about
through the woods with the milestone
and did a great deal Of mischief.
In few days the baby had grown
to the size Of giant and worked with
all giants strength helping the old
man upon his little farm.
About this time the daughter Of the
japanese king had been stolen by an
oni ian imp and carried far away to
an iron castle on the oni's island, where
she was imprisoned and tormented by
fierce and ugly creatures.
The chief of the onis often tried to
persuade her to marry him and become
his queen, but she would not accept
the oni's throne. But the oni persisted
in wooing her and tried In many ways
to make her consent.
When the old king, her father, heard
of this wonderful child, who was so
young and yet so very strong, he sent
one of his servants to bid him come to
his palace at once, so the child obeyed
the kings order and went to the palace
and was carried into the kings private
chamber.
The king asked him if he would bring
back his daughter from the Oniga
Shnia. The peach child told him he
would try to do it, as he did not feel at
all afraid of the oni. Then the king
promised him that if he should succeed
he would give him his daughters hand
In marriage as a reward for his great
service.
Early the next morning the peach
child assembled all the warriors to-
gether that were to accompany him on
his expedition to Oniga Shnia and
made them speech, and he promised
to reward all that would serve the
kings cause faithfully in the expedi-
ton against the oni. They were to
have three rice biscuits apiece.
Then all agreed to obey the COM
mands of the peach child, who at once
assumed control of these loyal war
riors, and the journey commenced.
When the whole army reached the
Oniga Shnia all the onis made great
preparation to give the peach boys
warriors battle.
great plains of the Oniga Shnia, where
they fought terrible battle until night
put an end to the conflict. The fortunes
of the day decided against the Oni's
party and an immense number was
slaughtered, and their blood covered
the plain.
Next morning, the peach child's army
having completely routed the oni's
hosts and captured the iron castle of
their prince, after diligent search in
the castle they found the beautiful and
lovely daughter Of the king confined in
a dark dungeon.
When the victorious army opened the
oni's treasury, they found numerous
precious things. Among them were
two suits Of winged dresses and nays
terious Japanese box.
The peach child and the kings daugh-
ter put on the winged dresses and flew
back to the kings palace in few min
utes and told the king what had hap
pened in the Oniga Shnia.
The old king was very much pleased
and gave his daughter In marriage to
the peach child. who after the old
kings death assembled the japanese
throne.
The wonder Of his age and reign was
the mysterious box which was taken
from the oni, out of which the king
Gould obtain anything he wanted.-New