The Story of a Crane Wife (Tsuru no On-gaeShi)

The Story of a Crane Wife

(Tsuru no On-gaeShi)

Traditional Japanese folktale - writer/translator of this text unknown

(All illustrations shown here by Gennady Spirin for the picture book The Crane Wife, retold by Odds Bodkin)

 Once upon a time, there lived an honest young man in the countryside of Japan.  One day, while he was tilling a paddy field, a crane suddenly came flapping down from the sky.  It was a white crane with truly beautiful feathers.  The bird was apparently wounded, and did not fly away, but came reeling towards the man and weakly fell to the ground.  Wondering, the man checked the crane’s feathers and found an arrow stuck in the base of the wings.  “Poor crane! That’s why you can’t fly!”  So saying, the young man pulled the arrow out and washed the wound clean.  The crane soon recovered and showed its delight by flapping its wings.  “Now,” the man said to the bird, “be careful never to be spotted by a hunter again”.  Thereupon, the crane circled over his head three times as if to express it’s thanks and then disappeared high into the sky after uttering a shrill cry.  The young man resumed his work, deeply contented that he had done a good thing.  

At nightfall when the stars began to appear, he returned to his home.  To his great surprise, however, he found a beautiful young woman, whom he never seen before standing at the entrance.  She greeted him, saying, “Thank you for your day’s hard work”.  Startled, he wondered if he was entering the wrong house, but the woman said with a smile, “This is your home and I’m your bride,” “I don’t believe it,” the man shouted.  “I’m so poor no woman will ever agree to marry me.  Besides, I have only enough rice to feed a single person!” “Don’t worry,” the woman replied.  “I have brought rice.” So saying, she took rice out of a small bag and began to fix supper.  The man finally consented saying, “How strange that you should force me to marry you! Well, do what you like!” and thus the woman came to live with the poor young man. 

Oddly enough, the small bag the woman had brought always provided the amount of rice they wanted, enabling the couple to lead a happy life.  Time went by and one day, the woman asked her husband to set up a workshop for weaving.  He borrowed money and had a special room built.  Thereupon, the woman entered the room, saying, “Please never look in here for seven days”.  And for exactly seven days after that, only the sound of a loom was heard from within day in and day out.  The man felt as if he were waiting for as long as one or two years, but remembering her request, he did not peep into the workshop.  The seven days passed and the woman came out somewhat haggard.  Held in her hands was a roll of resplendently beautiful cloth such a he had never hoped to see.  “Now,” she said to him, “I have woven a roll of cloth.  Please take this to the town market.  It will sell for 100 “ryo” (a big sum in terms of ancient Japanese coinage).”  

     

The next day, the man went to town and the cloth brought a surprisingly high price just as his wife had said.  Startled and delighted, he hurried home.  Upon reaching home, he found his wife already closeted in the workshop, and only the sound of the loom was heard.  He wondered how she could weave such beautiful cloth apparently without treads.  Soon he could no longer contain his ardent desire to see her, and stealthily peeped into the workshop, breaking his promise never to do so.  To his great surprise, he could not find is comely wife there.  Only a crane was weaving cloth with white feathers plucked from is body.  Promptly realizing that the man was looking in, the crane stopped weaving, staggered towards him and said:  “Well, my dear husband, you have seen everything.  Now that you have found out what I really am, I can no longer stay here, to my great regret.  I am the crane who was saved by you.  To repay your kindness, I have so far served you in the shape of a woman.  But from now on, please regard this half finished cloth as myself and keep it dearly.”  The crane then flew up with her remaining wings and vanished into the sky, never to return to the man. 

Note: This story text was found online HERE with no credit for the writing (or translation). Since the story isn't readily available to read in full elsewhere, I'm putting a copy here for your reference and convenience. There's another version cited in Wikipedia HERE.