＊桃太郎(The Peach Boy)＊ Once upon a time, there lived an old man and woman. He went to the mountain in the back of the house to get woods, and she went to the river to wash clothes every day. One day, the old woman found a floating big peach in the river. She brought it home and cut in half. Then, a fine baby came out. They were surprised and named him Momotaro, meant peach-boy in Japanese, because he was born from a peach. Some years passed and Momotaro became a strong, but kind boy. He thought about wanting to go to Oni-ga-shima, where demons lived, and to clean them up. Telling it to his parents, the old woman gave him Kibi-dango, which was a kind of the sweet rice cakes, to take on his journey. He answered, "I give it you, but you have to come with me and help to kill the demons. After that, a monkey and a pheasant came and also followed him for a Kibi-dango. Momotaro and his followers reached Oni-ga-shima, and they fought against demons. Finally they won. Momotaro got a lot of treasures and happily went back home. 昔、昔、あるところに、おじいさんと、おばあさんが、住んでいました。 おじいさんは、山へ芝刈りに、おばあさんは、川へ洗たくに行きました。おばあさんが川で洗たくをしていたら、大きな桃がどんぶらこ、どんぶらこと流れてきました。それを持って帰り、おじいさんといっしょに割りました。そしたら、大きな赤ん坊が出てきました。おじいさんたちは大変喜び。桃から生まれたので、その赤ん坊の名前は桃太郎にしました。ある日、桃太郎が鬼退治に行きたいと言うので、きび団子を持たせました。その途中、犬が現れました。犬は、きび団子をねだりました。桃太郎はきび団子をあげました。一緒に鬼退治に来るという条件をつけて。その後、猿、キジと、次々に来ました。そしてみんな仲間になりました。 そして鬼ヶ島に着きました。鬼と桃太郎たちは戦いました。 桃太郎たちは勝って、宝をもらって帰りました。 Story created by: Ohsawa School Citation: |
On the road to Oni-ga-shima, Momotaro
met a dog. The dog said, "I want the Kibi-dango. If you give me it, I’ll
follow you!