Saturday 19 July 2014

The Heron Maiden: Japanese Folk Tale


One day a young man came across an injured heron. He felt sorry for the heron, so he took it home and gradually nursed the heron back to health. When the heron was strong enough to fly, the young man released the heron. Sometime later the young man met a beautiful young woman. They fell in love and married.  The woman was a very talented weaver and weaved beautiful cloth with exquisite designs. The young man sold the cloth, so they could live a comfortable life.  But the young woman made her new husband promise to never watch her weave. For a long time the young man kept the promise, but was always intrigued as to why he could not look. One day he could not stand it anymore and decided to look. He was shocked to see a heron working the loom. When the heron noticed him for a brief second it turned into his wife, but just as quickly turned back into a heron and
 flew away.

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