It was the beginning of summer. On the bank of a river in Japan an old
woman kneeled washing clothes. She took the clothes from a basket beside
her and washed them in the water, which was so clear that you could
plainly see the stones at the bottom and the dartings of the little
minnows.
Presently there came floating down the stream a big round
delicious-looking peach.
"Well," the woman said, "I am sixty years old, and never before have I
seen so large and handsome a peach. It must be fine to eat."
She looked about for a stick with which to reach the peach, but saw
none. For a moment she was perplexed. Then she clapped her hands, and
nodded her head while she sang these words:
"Far waters are bitter, near waters are sweet--
Leave the bitter, come to the sweet."
She sang the words three times, whereupon, strange to say, the peach
rolled over and over in the water till it came to the shore in front of
her.
"How delighted my old man will be!" she thought as she picked it up.
Then she packed the clothes she had been washing into the basket and
hurried home. Soon she saw her husband returning from the mountain where
he had been cutting grass. She ran to meet him and showed him the peach.
"Dear me!" the old man said, "it is wonderful. Where did you buy it?"
"Buy it? I did not buy it," she replied. Then she told him how she got
it from the river.
"I feel hungry," the old man affirmed. "Let us eat the peach at once."
They went to the house and got a knife. But just as the old man was
about to cut the peach he heard a child's clear voice say, "Good sir,
wait!"
Instantly the peach split in two halves, and out danced a little boy
less than six inches high. This was so unexpected that the man and woman
nearly fainted with astonishment and fright.
"Do not be afraid," the boy said. "You have often lamented that you have
no child, and I have been sent to be your son."
The old couple were very much pleased, and they did all they could to
show how welcome he was to their home. Peach-boy was the name they gave
him. The years passed, and he grew to be a man remarkable for his
beauty, his courage, and, above all, for his great strength.
One day he came to the old man and old woman and said: "Father, your
kindness has been higher than the mountain on which you cut grass; and
Mother, yours has been deeper than the river in which you wash clothes.
How can I thank you?"
"Do not thank us," the old man replied. "The time will come when we
cannot work, and then we shall be dependent on you."
"But as things are," Peach-boy said, "I am so greatly indebted to you
that I hesitate to make a request that is in my mind."
"What is it?" they questioned.
"It is that you allow me to go away for a short time," he answered.
"Go away? Where to?" they asked.
"I would have you know," he said, "that north of the mainland of Japan
is an island inhabited by demons, who kill our people and steal our
treasure. I want to destroy them and bring back all their stolen riches.
For this purpose I wish to leave you."
The old man was at first speechless with astonishment, but as he
considered the matter he was convinced that Peach-boy was not mortal in
his origin and therefore was probably safe from injury.
So he said: "You wish to go, and I will not stop you. Indeed, as those
demons are the enemies of Japan, the sooner you destroy them and save
your country from their depredations the better."
Preparations for Peach-boy's journey began at once. The old woman made
him some dumplings and got his clothes ready. When the time came for him
to start, the old couple saw him off with tears in their eyes.
"Take care of yourself. May you return victorious," they said.