[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Quite unlike other boys, Kintaro, grew up all alone in the
mountain wilds, and as he had no companions he made friends
with all the animals and learned to understand them and to
speak their strange talk. By degrees they all grew quite tame
and looked upon Kintaro as their master, and he used them as
his servants and messengers. But his special retainers were
the bear, the deer, the monkey and the hare.
The bear often brought her cubs for Kintaro to romp with,
and when she came to take them home Kintaro would get on
her back and have a ride to her cave. He was very fond of the
deer too, and would often put his arms round the creature's
neck to show that its long horns did not frighten him. Great
was the fun they all had together.
One day, as usual, Kintaro went up into the mountains, fol-
lowed by the bear, the deer, the monkey, and the hare. After
walking for some time up hill and down dale and over rough
40
roads, they suddenly came out upon a wide and grassy plain
covered with pretty wild flowers.
Here, indeed, was a nice place where they could all have a
good romp together. The deer rubbed his horns against a tree
for pleasure, the monkey scratched his back, the hare
smoothed his long ears, and the bear gave a grunt of
satisfaction.
Kintaro said, "Here is a place for a good game. What do you
all say to a wrestling match?"
The bear being the biggest and the oldest, answered for the
others:
"That will be great fun," said she. "I am the strongest animal,
so I will make the platform for the wrestlers;" and she set to
work with a will to dig up the earth and to pat it into shape.
"All right," said Kintaro, "I will look on while you all wrestle
with each other. I shall give a prize to the one who wins in
each round."
"What fun! we shall all try to get the prize," said the bear.
The deer, the monkey and the hare set to work to help the
bear raise the platform on which they were all to wrestle.
When this was finished, Kintaro cried out:
"Now begin! the monkey and the hare shall open the sports
and the deer shall be umpire. Now, Mr. Deer, you are to be
umpire!"
"He, he!" answered the deer. "I will be umpire. Now, Mr.
Monkey and Mr. Hare, if you are both ready, please walk out
and take your places on the platform."
Then the monkey and the hare both hopped out, quickly and
nimbly, to the wrestling platform. The deer, as umpire, stood
between the two and called out:
"Red-back! Red-back!" (this to the monkey, who has a red
back in Japan). "Are you ready?"
Then he turned to the hare:
"Long-ears! Long-ears! are you ready?"
Both the little wrestlers faced each other while the deer
raised a leaf on high as signal. When he dropped the leaf the
monkey and the hare rushed upon each other, crying "Yoisho,
yoisho!"
While the monkey and the hare wrestled, the deer called out
encouragingly or shouted warnings to each of them as the hare
41
or the monkey pushed each other near the edge of the platform
and were in danger of falling over.
"Red-back! Red-back! stand your ground!" called out the
deer.
"Long-ears! Long-ears! be strong, be strong don't let the
monkey beat you!" grunted the bear.
So the monkey and the hare, encouraged by their friends,
tried their very hardest to beat each other. The hare at last
gained on the monkey. The monkey seemed to trip up, and the
hare giving him a good push sent him flying off the platform
with a bound.
The poor monkey sat up rubbing his back, and his face was
very long as he screamed angrily. "Oh, oh! how my back
hurts my back hurts me!"
Seeing the monkey in this plight on the ground, the deer
holding his leaf on high said:
"This round is finished the hare has won."
Kintaro then opened his luncheon box and taking out a rice-
dumpling, gave it to the hare saying:
"Here is your prize, and you have earned, it well!"
Now the monkey got up looking very cross, and as they say
in Japan "his stomach stood up," for he felt that he had not
been fairly beaten. So he said to Kintaro and the others who
were standing by:
"I have not been fairly beaten. My foot slipped and I tumbled.
Please give me another chance and let the hare wrestle with
me for another round."
Then Kintaro consenting, the hare and the monkey began to
wrestle again. Now, as every one knows, the monkey is a cun-
ning animal by nature, and he made up his mind to get the best
of the hare this time if it were possible. To do this, he thought
that the best and surest way would be to get hold of the hare's
long ear. This he soon managed to do. The hare was quite
thrown off his guard by the pain of having his long ear pulled
so hard, and the monkey seizing his opportunity at last, caught
hold of one of the hare's legs and sent him sprawling in the
middle of the dais. The monkey was now the victor and re-
ceived, a rice-dumpling from Kintaro, which pleased him so
much that he quite forgot his sore back.
42
The deer now came up and asked the hare if he felt ready for
another round, and if so whether he would try a round with
him, and the hare consenting, they both stood up to wrestle.
The bear came forward as umpire.
The deer with long horns and the hare with long ears, it must
have been an amusing sight to those who watched this queer
match. Suddenly the deer went down on one of his knees, and
the bear with the leaf on high declared him beaten. In this way,
sometimes the one, sometimes the other, conquering, the little
party amused themselves till they were tired.
At last Kintaro got up and said:
"This is enough for to-day. What a nice place we have found
for wrestling; let us come again to-morrow. Now, we will all go
home. Come along!" So saying, Kintaro led the way while the
animals followed.
After walking some little distance they came out on the
banks of a river flowing through a valley. Kintaro and his four
furry friends stood and looked about for some means of cross-
ing. Bridge there was none. The river rushed "don, don" on its
way. All the animals looked serious, wondering how they could
cross the stream and get home that evening.
Kintaro, however, said:
"Wait a moment. I will make a good bridge for you all in a
few minutes."
The bear, the deer, the monkey and the hare looked at him to
see what he would do now.
Kintaro went from one tree to another that grew along the
river bank. At last he stopped in front of a very large tree that
was growing at the water's edge. He took hold of the trunk and
pulled it with all his might, once, twice, thrice! At the third
pull, so great was Kintaro's strength that the roots gave way,
and "meri, meri" (crash, crash), over fell the tree, forming an
excellent bridge across the stream.
"There," said Kintaro, "what do you think of my bridge? It is
quite safe, so follow me," and he stepped across first. The four
animals followed. Never had they seen any one so strong be-
fore, and they all exclaimed:
"How strong he is! how strong he is!" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]