The Princess with the Golden Hair
Once Upon a Time in the Far East
Many years ago, in the Far East, there lived a princess whose hair was like golden threads. Because of her great beauty, her wicked stepmother hated her so intensely that she persuaded her brother, the prince, to take the young girl into the desert and leave her there to die. The prince, under his stepmother’s influence, did as he was told.
The Princess Returns
After five days, the princess returned to the palace, riding on a magnificent lion. The wicked stepmother realized she was being scorned by her people due to this wonderful homecoming, so she ordered the prince to send his sister away to the wild mountains. Nobody lived there except for the fierce vultures.
More Trials Await
Three days went by, and on the fourth, the princess with the golden hair appeared again, carried safely home by three vultures. By now, the stepmother was hated even more by her people, prompting her to issue another order to send the princess away, this time to a deserted island. After a few days, the princess was again brought home, this time in the boat of some kind of old fisherman.
The Deep Well
The stepmother was furious. She ordered the guards to dig a deep well in the palace courtyard. Once it was finished, she pushed the princess inside and hastily had the opening filled in. After six days, the wicked stepmother saw a strange light shining from the spot where the well had been. The prince, unaware that his sister had been buried there, ordered the guards to search the area, and the princess was discovered alive and well.
The Mulberry Tree
The stepmother could bear it no longer. She had a mulberry tree hollowed out and shut the little princess inside it. The tree trunk was then thrown into the sea. It was tossed about by the waves for nine days until it finally washed up on the shores of Japan. Some fishermen spotted the mulberry trunk floating in the water and pulled it ashore. When they opened it, they found the princess with golden hair, but as soon as she saw the light of day, she closed her eyes and transformed into a silkworm.
The Life of a Silkworm
The little silkworm crawled onto a mulberry tree and began to gnaw at the leaves. The fishermen watched in amazement and kept a close watch on the creature. One day, the silkworm did not eat; instead, she stayed perfectly still for five whole days. This was the same number of days the princess had spent in the desert.
Transformation and Legacy
After the fifth day, the silkworm woke up and began to feed again, alternating between eating and sleeping, just as she had in her previous adventures. Then one day, the tired little silkworm wrapped herself in a cocoon of silky, golden thread. After a while, she emerged not as a worm but as a beautiful moth with big, pale wings. She flew here and there, laying eggs from which other silkworms were born, gradually spreading over the whole of Japan.
A Rich Heritage
The people discovered how to extract silk threads from the cocoons, transforming Japan into a rich country. The Japanese take care of the silkworms in great numbers, weaving exquisite silk from the threads. Whenever the silkworm goes to sleep, they remember the legend of the beautiful princess with golden hair who came to their island in a mulberry tree. They commemorate her adventures with five names: The Sleep of the Lion, The Sleep of the Vultures, The Sleep of the Ship, The Sleep of the Well, and The Sleep of the Tree Trunk.