The Bamboo Princess

Far away in Japan, there lived an elderly man and his wife. Their little wooden house stood by a swift-flowing river, and behind it were hills, covered with bamboo and fir trees. The couple made a meagre living by cutting down the bamboo and weaving it skillfully into flutes, vases, and baskets. These they took to the nearest town and sold.

However, as they grew older, they grew more and more lonely.
“If only we had a child to bring us joy and happiness,” the wife sighed sometimes.

One day, in early springtime, the old man went out as usual to the bamboo thicket to chop down the bamboo canes. He had not been working long before he noticed that one of the canes was swaying around in a very odd manner. There was no wind, and all the other canes were still. Only one was moving. It seemed as though it were asking to be cut down, so with one swipe of his sharp knife, the old man cut through its stem, and it fell to the ground.

He picked up the fallen piece of bamboo, and it seemed to jerk in his hands, so he cut it open carefully. There, lying inside the bamboo cane, was a tiny girl. She had soft, white skin and jet-black hair, and she was dressed in a tiny silk kimono, with a silk sash.

With a cry of joy, the old man picked up the bamboo cradle and took the tiny child back home with him. His wife was delighted, and they watched over the child and cared for her, full of happiness.

She grew quickly—so quickly that before the moon was full, she was two feet tall. She quickly grew out of the tiny kimono she had been wearing when they found her, and the old woman took all their savings and went to the nearest town. There she bought a length of fine silk and a length of cotton to make her another kimono. It took all their savings, and the old couple wondered what they would do now that they had no money left.

The little girl was still growing fast, and one day, as the man went to cut down the bamboo shoots, he puzzled about how they would find the money to buy their strange child more clothes. Hardly noticing what he was doing, he slashed with his knife at the first bamboo shoot he came to, and from it came a trickle of golden coins. The old man was delighted, for he was certain that whoever had sent them the child had also sent this money so that he could provide for her.

Now they were no longer worried about how they would buy silk for more kimonos, for as the child grew bigger and bigger, the bamboo continued to provide money for her. In no time at all, she had grown into a beautiful young woman, and by the time she had been with them three years, she looked like a seventeen-year-old girl.

The news of this beautiful girl spread to the nearby town and beyond. One day, the parents said to her,
“You are a young woman now. We shall not be able to look after you forever, and it is about time you got married. We cannot bear the thought of losing you, but we want you to be properly provided for. Many young men of good family would like to marry you. We would like to bring back from the town the three we think most worthy of you, for you to choose from.”

The girl, whom they called the Bamboo Princess because of her charm and beauty, hung her head sadly.
“Dear parents, I have no wish to marry,” she said. “But since you wish it, I will meet the three suitors and set a task for each of them. I will marry the one who fulfills the task.”

The parents brought the three young men back to the house with them. They were all handsome, charming, and of good family. The Bamboo Princess told the first one to bring her the bowl which had been used by the Lord Buddha both as a drinking bowl and as a begging bowl. The second one had to bring her the fur of one of the tree rats which live over the Western Sea and which was known to be fireproof. The third young man was to bring a seashell, which the swallows are said to keep in their nests, hidden away.

The three young men set out, each resolved to be the first to return with his gift. The first one went to a clever potter whom he knew.
“Make me a bowl like the one the Great Lord Buddha used,” he said. “I will pay you well, for I have no wish to travel across to India to search for Buddha’s bowl.”

The potter did as he was asked, and the young man took it to the Bamboo Princess. She looked at it carefully and then shook her head sorrowfully.
“This is not the Lord Buddha’s bowl,” she said. “You have deceived me.” The young man hung his head in shame and went sorrowfully away from the house.

The second young man fared no better. He did not want to travel across the Western Sea, so he asked a furrier he knew to make him a fireproof fur, like the one which would have come from the rats over the Western Sea. He took it back, and again the Bamboo Princess shook her head.
“You have deceived me,” she said, and the young man went away sorrowfully.

The third young man went to a fisherman he knew and asked him to get a shell like the one the swallows hide away in their nests, but the princess discovered this deceit, too. All three suitors had tricked her.

Before long, another suitor reached the little wooden hut, and the old couple were delighted to find that he was none other than the heir to the Imperial Japanese throne. He asked for the hand of the Bamboo Princess in marriage, but she refused him.

The young prince asked for an explanation, and the girl handed him a long scroll of paper, on which were written beautifully formed characters. The prince read what was written and, looking very sad, he left the house.

Then the Bamboo Princess turned to the old couple.
“Dear parents,” she said, “I am really the daughter of the Moon. For being rude and unkind, my father banished me to Earth. He made me very small and hid me in a bamboo shoot as a punishment for my wrong deeds. You found me and cared for me, and the gold you found was sent for my keep by my father, the Moon. He will not forget that you spent all the coins on me and not one on yourselves.

“Now it is time for me to return to the Moon. On Earth, I have learned to be kind and humble, and I shall always be grateful for your kindness and care. Tonight, the moon will be full. Go to the town tomorrow to sell your bamboo baskets, and when you return, I will be gone.”

The old couple did as she had said, and when they returned home the next day, the Bamboo Princess had gone. It was said that a chariot of moonbeams had dropped to Earth to fetch her.

The heir to the Imperial Japanese throne took the scroll back to the palace with him, but he never told anyone what was written on it. It was said that he took it to the top of Mount Fuji, and there he set it alight. The smoke which is seen rising from the top of the mountain is said to be the smoke of the scroll, which smoulders there still.

The old couple stayed in their little wooden cottage, watched over by the Moon, who sent them gold coins in the bamboo cane whenever they were in need. Always they cherished the memory of the daughter who had come from the Moon to give them a few years of happiness.