Japanese Children's Favorite Stories Book 1 by Florence Sakade Read Free Book Online

village and put a straw hood over the head of every single rooster so it wouldn't see the sun rising. Then the ogre thought to himself, "Now I'll build that stairway!" And he set to work, building the stairway up the mountain.
    The ogre worked so hard and so quickly that he already had ninety-nine steps in place when the sun began to rise in the east. But he only smiled to himself, thinking that the roosters wouldn't be able to crow and that he still had plenty of time to put the last step in place.
    But a kind fairy also lived on the mountain. The fairy had been watching the ogre and had seen the mean trick he was playing. So while the ogre was going down the stairway for the last stone, the fairy flew down and took the straw hood off the head of one of the roosters.
    The rooster saw the sun rising and crowed loudly, "ko-ke-kok-ko!" This woke up all the other roosters, and they all began to crow.
    The ogre was surprised to hear this. "I've lost!" he cried. "And there was just one more step to go." But even ogres must keep their promises, so he stroked his horn very sadly and went far away into the mountains.
    No one ever saw the ogre again and the farmers lived very happily at the foot of the mountain. They finished the stairway up the mountain and often climbed it on summer evenings to enjoy the wonderful view.

The Rabbit Who Crossed the Sea
    Once there was a white rabbit who wanted to cross the sea. Across the waves he could see a beautiful island and he wanted very badly to go there. But the rabbit couldn't swim and there were no boats around. Then he had an idea.
    He called to a shark in the sea and said, "Oh, Mr Shark, which one of us has the most friends, you or I?"
    "I'm sure I have the most friends," said the shark.
    "Well, let's count them to make sure," said the rabbit. "Why don't you have all your friends line up in the sea between here and that island? Then I can count them."

    So all the sharks lined up in the sea, and the rabbit went hopping from the back of one shark to the next, counting, "One, two, three, four, five... " Finally he reached the island.
    Then he turned to the sharks and said, "Ha, ha, you dumb sharks! I certainly fooled you. I got you to make a bridge for me, without you knowing about it."
    The sharks became very angry. One of them reached up with his sharp teeth and bit off a piece of the rabbit's fur.
    "Oh, that hurts!" cried the rabbit and he began weeping.
    Just then the king of the island came by. He asked the rabbit what was the matter, and when he had heard the rabbit's story, he said, "You mustn't ever fool others and tell lies again. If you promise to be good, I'll tell you how you can get your fur back."
    "Oh, I promise, I promise," said the rabbit.
    So the king gathered some bulrushes and made a nest with them. "Now you sleep here in this nest of bulrushes all night," said the king, "and your fur will grow back."
    The rabbit did as he was told. The next morning he went to the king and said, "Thank you very, very much. My fur grew back and I'm well again. Thank you, thank you, thank you."
    Then the rabbit went hopping off along the seashore, dancing and singing. He never tried to fool anyone again.

The Graterul Statues
    Once upon a time there lived a kind old couple in a village in Japan. They were very poor and spent every day weaving hats out of straw. Whenever they finished a number of hats, the old man would take them to the nearest town to sell.
    One day the old man said to the old woman, "It will be New Year's Day in two days. How I wish we had some rice cakes to eat then! Even one or two little cakes would be enough. Without rice cakes we won't be able to celebrate the new year."
    "Well, then," said the old woman, "after you've sold these hats we're making, buy some rice cakes for New Year's Day."
    So early the next morning the old man took the five new hats that they had made and went to town to sell them. But when he got to town he was unable to sell a single hat. And to