Hello, my name is Finn, and I'm going to help you understand this book.
Here it is, explained like you are 10:
These are the old favourite stories of Japan, told in English by a kind lady named Yei Theodora Ozaki. You will meet Momotaro, a strong boy who was born from a giant peach. You will meet Urashima Taro, a fisherman who rides a turtle to a palace under the sea. And you will meet a little sparrow who teaches a kind old woman and a greedy one a lesson they never forget.
These tales tell of Momotaro, the boy born from a peach who sails to fight ogres, of Urashima Taro, who visits a palace under the sea and comes home to a shock, and of a tongue cut sparrow whose gifts reward kindness and punish greed. There are heroes as small as a thumb, a hero who carries a bag of rice in his mouth, and animals who talk, thank and remember.
The book is a collection of twenty two short stories, gathered and retold in English by Yei Theodora Ozaki in 1903. Each tale is complete by itself, most are only a few pages, and the order is simply one good story after another. Ozaki kept the Japanese names, places and customs as they were, so the book still feels like Japan, not like Europe in costume.
The stories work because their rules are gentle and firm: be kind, keep promises, and do not be greedy, and the world will treat you well. The magic is strange and beautiful rather than frightening. Readers finish each tale feeling calm and satisfied, and a little curious about the faraway islands where these stories grew up.
When Yei Theodora Ozaki published Japanese Fairy Tales in 1903, English readers had almost no window into Japan's own story tradition, and her book became that window. Ozaki retold twenty two beloved tales, among them Momotaro the peach boy, Urashima Taro's visit beneath the sea, and the Tongue-Cut Sparrow, keeping their gentleness, humour and strangeness intact. It remains the classic English telling of these stories, the door through which most Western readers first meet Japan's folklore.
When Yei Theodora Ozaki published Japanese Fairy Tales in 1903, English readers had almost no window into Japan's own story tradition, and her collection became that window. Ozaki, who worked as a translator and interpreter, retold twenty two beloved tales, among them Momotaro the peach boy, Urashima Taro and his visit beneath the sea, the Tongue-Cut Sparrow, and My Lord Bag of Rice. She kept their gentleness, humour and occasional strangeness intact, and the book was a success on both sides of the Pacific. It has never really gone away, and it remains the classic English telling of these stories, told with warmth and respect for its source.
Starvard carries this book because every great library needs a door into Japan's folklore, and this is the door generations of readers have used. It sits naturally beside the fairy tale collections from Europe on our shelf, and the comparison is half the pleasure: the same kindnesses and cruelties, dressed in silk and bamboo instead of forests and castles. Children hearing the stories for the first time, and adults who met Momotaro long ago and want to meet him again, will both be glad it is here.
Edition: Text: Project Gutenberg ebook 4018.
Source: Project Gutenberg. Published 1903. Author died 1932. Public domain. Share this book: WhatsApp
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