Welcome to Litsy!

#CookBooks #quest

In the Japanese folk tale "The Jellyfish Takes a Journey," The Dragon King sends the jellyfish on a quest to bring back a live monkey to Dragonland so his wife Lady Dragon can eat its liver & recover from her illness. Unfortunately for jellyfish, the monkey tricks him and (spoiler!) jellyfish, more like regular fish in appearance before the quest, is beaten to jelly & jelly he remains. ????

#CoolBooks #mother

The Matsuyama Mirror features a young village mother, gifted a mirror by her husband, home from a trip to Tokyo. Mirrors were unknown in remote areas so at first she doesn't know what it is, then puts it away to prevent herself & her young daughter from becoming conceited by their beauty. When she falls ill, she tells her daughter when she's gone to look in it every day for comfort. An odd, slightly sad, but beautiful tale.

#CoolBooks #Tresses

Could've doubled-up with yesterday's 'tower' prompt & Rapunzel--instead here's the Japanese folk tale "The Girl with the Black Bowl" where a young girl is instructed by her dying mother to hide her beauty under a large black rice bowl, promising to "not remove it until the time comes." Even on her wedding day when the village maidens try to remove it to adorn her tresses with golden combs, it stays on. That's dedication!?

#CoolBooks #fable

"The Tongue-Cut Sparrow" in my Japanese story book has an animal character & conveys a moral & lessons about friendship & greed. A kind old man has a sparrow for a friend, but his neighbor, a sour old woman, cuts out its tongue for eating her starch. When the old man goes & finds the sparrow he's given choice between a heavy or light basket--he chooses the light which is full of riches & I'll let you guess what happens next. ?

#CoolBooks #sword ⛩?

From the Japanese folk tale "The Sword of Ide"--what the faithful nurse O Matsu reminded young Fugiwaka about his father's samurai sword:

"'Listen my lord,' she said, 'and, sleeping or waking, remember. The sword is your treasure. The sword is your trust. The sword is your fortune. Cherish it, guard it, keep it.'"

In the picture O Matsu is protecting the sword from Fugiwaka's evil stepmother.

#CoolBooks #beauty

There are many beautiful women in these Japanese folk tales, but I'm going to pick Yuki in "Who Shall Marry the Rat's Daughter?" Her beauty "...was unsurpassed in the whole province. She was completely white and named Yuki, because of her resemblance to pure snow." In the story, Mr. and Mrs. Rat are determined to marry her off to "the most important being in the land." ??That's Yuki on the far right, with her parents.

#CoolBooks #Tale

I have talked about this book of Japanese folk tales before, but it is one of my favorites, mainly because of the beautiful illustrations. My favorit tale is Momotaro: Son of the Peach 🍑 or 'the peach boy' as I used to call him--found as a baby in the center of the peach in place of the pit--but there are several cool tales in this book.

#ReadingResolutions #FairyTale

I have our old family copy of Grimm's Fairy Tales but it is old & carefully packed away and I am too lazy to find the box on my shelves.☺️ More readily accessible was this book of Japanese folk tales. I bought it years ago because I love the illustrations. Momotaro, Son of the Peach--or as I think of him "peach-boy"--is my favorite. As a child I was enchanted with him being found as a baby, inside of a peach. ?