The Peony Flower - Part One

Long ago there lived a man who was the leader of the province of Omi.

The man had one daughter called Aya. 

She was very beautiful. Aya's mother had died when she was very young and she did not have any memories of her mother.

However the father was a warrior in the court of Shogun. He frequently traveled and Aya saw very little of him.

Aya lived with her nurses and the other women of the castle.

Once when her father had been victorious in a battle and came back to the castle 

Aya greeted her father at the door. 

That was when the father realized that his daughter was now sixteen years old and she had grown up during the time that he was away. 

The father realized that he had to find a good match for his daughter. 

He told his daughter about his plan. 

He looked around carefully to find a good match. 

He found that the Lord of the Ako province had three sons. He thought about it and realized that the middle son was the best match for his daughter. 

Messengers were sent from both the provinces and finally Aya was betrothed to the middle son of the Lord of the province of Ako.

Once Aya and her friends were walking in the garden at night. 

The moon was round, beautiful and silver and hanging in the skies. One of the maidens accompanying Aya was Sada and all of them together spoke about the lovely weather was.

Aya studied the beauty of the moon. Ata smiled at the maidens who stood around her. "The moon looks beautiful but have you seen her faint sister who is sadder and fairer than her?" 

The maidens around Aya looked at her. "Who is the moon's sister?" 

Aya took them on the path of the garden to a still pond where there were fireflies dancing and frogs which croaked about. 

The girls looked into the water and there they saw the moon's reflection, who was the moon's sister. 

They laughed and played near the waters and at that time Aya's foot slipped on a smooth stone. 

Aya would have fallen into the pond. 

All of a sudden a young man came out of the night and caught Aya in his arms. 

For a moment all the maidens saw the handsome looking man. Suddenly he just disappeared from there. 

Aya stood alone and she was trembling. She did not know the stranger had saved her life because she did not know how to swim. 

Besides, the stranger who had saved Aya's life had just disappeared into the night. 

The maidens looked around and found no one near the pond. 

All they saw were the Peony flowers that Aya had planted around the waters in the pond.

Adapted from Japanese folktales