The Mount of the Golden Queen - Part One

Once there was a boy who tended to the cattle in the forest. It was noon time and he was watching his cattle after his meals. At the time he saw a rat run into a juniper bush.  

The boy was curious and he bent over to look at where the rat had gone. 

However, when he did that, he fell head-over-heels and fell asleep immediately. 

He dreamt that he had to find the princess on the Mount of the Golden Queen.  

The boy woke up from his dream. But he did not know enough to make much of his dream.

The next day he brought his cattle to the forest and he came to the same clearing and ate his meals there again. 

He saw the same rat and he bent down and he fell head-over-heels and fell asleep again.  

This time he dreamt of the princess on the Mount of the Golden Queen and in his dreams, he was told that in order to get to her, he needed seventy pounds of iron and a pair of iron shoes. 

This time when he woke up, he had made up his mind to find the Mount of the Golden Queen.  

But he still did not know the way to go to reach the place. 

On the third day when he went with his cattle to the forest, he fell asleep again and he dreamt of the princess herself. In the dream, the princess gave a letter and a band of gold to him. He dropped it in his pocket.  

When the boy woke up, he was stunned to find a letter and a band of gold in his pocket for real.

He realized he would now have to fulfill his dream and he drove his cattle home for the day. 

Then he went to the stable and took a horse from there and sold it. 

With that money, he bought seventy pounds of iron and a pair of iron shoes. 

With the iron that he bought, he made thole-pins for the oar points of a boat. 

After that, he put on his iron shoes and took the many thole-pins that he had made and he set out on his adventure.

The boy walked on land for a long time and at last came across a huge lake which he had to cross. 

He took out the boat with him and steadily rowed across. He wore out one thole-pin after another. Before he reached the other end of the lake, he had used all the thole-pins that he had made.

The land on the other end of the Lake was a big meadow. There were no trees anywhere that he walked all around the meadow. At last found a mound of earth from which smoke was rising. As he looked closely he saw a huge woman who was nine yards long. She came towards him, he asked her to tell him the way to the Mount of the Golden Queen. 

She did not know the answer. But she directed him to her elder sister who could know the answer and the elder sister was nine yards taller than this woman.

Adapted from Swedish Folk Tales

The Healing Waters - Part Two

In his dream the Warrior dreamed of his wife. She looked pale and

then he heard her singing a song of wonderful melody. He also

heard a waterfall nearby in his dream. The water seemed to be

talking to him. “Find me warrior and then you find me your wife

will live.  Because I am the Healing Waters!” 

The Warrior woke up from a deep sleep in the morning. 

The fox led him to a short distance through the forest on the

branch of the tree. 

There the warrior heard a bird singing a song. It was the same

song that his wife had sung in the dream. 

The Warrior knew that this was the bird that the old woman in the

forest had talked about.

An instant later he heard the sound of the waterfall. 

But though he searched for the waters everywhere he could not

find it.

Dejected, he went back. 

The fox smilingly shook its head. “You must seek it and you

cannot give up. It will not come to you until you search.” 

So he searched again and this time he thought he heard a voice

from under his feet. 

“Release us,” the voice said. “Set us free and you and your wife

will be saved.” 

So the Warrior picked up a sharp stick and dug through the Earth. 

He had not dug far enough when a spring gushed forth and boiled

upwards carrying to the world its healing powers. 

That was when the young warrior knew that he had found the

cure for his ills. He jumped into the spring and bathed himself in

the water and all his tiredness left him and he felt strong again. 

Then the young man moulded a large pot from the soft earth. He

baked the pot on fire until it was hard. 

The fox then nodded at the man. “I will leave you here. Your

kindness has been rewarded and you will not need me anymore.

Because you have found the healing waters.”

With this, the fox disappeared as quickly as it had come. 

The young man filled his clay pot with water and went back to

his home running through the forest with the speed of the wind

because of his new strength. 

When he reached the native village the people met him with sad

faces because the plague was still raging there. 

But he went home and he forced some of the healing waters

between his wife's parched lips. 

After that, she fell into a deep sleep and when she woke up she

was well again. 

With the help of the healing waters, he cured all the people in the

village and there was no more sickness. 

Thus the healing waters came on earth, bearing health and

happiness accompanied by the songs of birds.

Adapted from Native Candian Folk Tales

The Healing Waters - Part One

Long ago a dreadful plague ravaged a tiny village. Neither the old nor the young were safe from the plague and the weakest fell first. 

The people of the village tried everything to get rid of the plague but they were unsuccessful. 

They prayed to the good spirits to come and help them, but no help came to them.

In that village was a young warrior who had lost all his relatives because of the dreaded disease. His young wife was also sick.  

The young warrior was very sad because he was sure that his wife would also follow his parents into the Land of the Shadows. 

That day he met an old woman in the forest. 

“Why are you so sad?” The old woman asked the young warrior.

The young man told the old woman everything.  

The old woman nodded at the young man. “There is a bird of sweet song which lives very close to the healing waters. If you go and find the birds, they will point you to the healing waters. This water can heal everything that it touches.” 

The young man thanked the old woman profusely and then told his other village people and set off on his journey for the waters. 

He traveled for days together listening to the bird of the sweet song but he found nothing. 

He asked the animals that he had passed about the healing waters but the rabbit or the bear or the other animals that he met on the way scurried away without answering his questions. 

The snow in this part of the forest was very deep and he could barely move, but still the man did not give up. He kept plodding through this place. 

Finally, he came out of the snow country and here he found that the air was warmer and there were little streams of water here. 

He found the body of a dead man lying on his path. He buried the body because he felt that it was not right to leave the body just like that.  

That night, as the young warrior continued on his journey, he met a fox in his path. 

The fox nodded to him. “Why are you here so late in this forest?” 

The young Warrior shrugged. “I am looking for the bird of the sweet song which will point me to the healing waters.” 

The fox smiled. “I am the spirit of the man whom you buried yesterday. For the kindness that you have shown me I will do a kindness for you. You have been good to animals and birds, and you have never killed them uselessly. You were always careful with the flowers and trees and you have protected them from harm. So now they want to be good to you. So on behalf of all of them and me I will guide you.  But first you must be tired from your long journey and you must rest. I will guard you while you sleep.”

Adapted from Native Canadian Folk Tales

Princess Hase’s Story - Part Five

After a few weeks when Prince Toyonari came back home, his wife told him that Hase-Hime had done something wrong and ran away for fear of being punished. 

Prince Toyonari was worried when he heard this. What worried him some more was that everyone in the palace told him the same story. Nobody knew where Hase-Hime had gone.  

He looked everywhere for her but he kept the matter quiet because he did not want everyone to know about it. So he was not successful in searching for her. 

One day as he was trying to forget his worry, he called all his men and told them to get ready for several days’ hunt in the mountains.

Prince Toyonari drove to the district of Hibari Mountains with his big retinue. 

He soon found himself in the picturesque place. 

He noted a tiny cottage in one of the hills nearby and he thought he heard beautiful clear voices from the cottage. A second later he realized that a voice was reading aloud. He was curious as to who it could be. 

He left his horse there and walked towards the cottage. 

As he drew closer to the cottage, he was even more surprised because from afar he could see that the reader was a beautiful young girl. 

The cottage was wide open and she was looking at the mountains as she was reading out.

At that time, Prince Toyonari was shocked to see that it was his daughter Hase-Hime. “It is you!” 

Hase-Hime’s eyes filled with tears. “My father, you have come.”

After that the faithful old Katoda came forward and he told his master the reason that he had brought Hase-Hime here. 

The Prince was shocked on hearing what his wife had done. 

He gave up the hunt and hurried home with his daughter and the other two people with her.

Princess Terute learned of what had happened to the Prince at Hibari. She fled from the house after this. 

The princess came back and she lived happily with the old servant Katoda and his wife who were rewarded with the highest promotion, in the house. 

As Prince Tayonari had no son, he adopted a younger son of one of the court nobles to be his heir and marry his daughter, Hase-Hime in a few years. 

The marriage took place and it was said that Princess Hase-Hime was the wisest and the most beautiful woman that had reigned in Prince Toyonari’s ancient house.

Adapted from Japanese Folk Tales

Princess Hase’s Story - Part Four

The Emperor was very pleased with Hase-Hime. He awarded her with the rank of lieutenant General. Since that day she was called Lieutenant General Princess.

The stepmother was, however, burning with envy and jealousy at the rise to power of her stepdaughter. 

She told her husband many lies about Hase-Hime. 

Luckily her husband did not believe her and told her that she was mistaken.  

Once the husband had left the castle for some work. 

Seizing the opportunity of Prince Toyanari’s absence, Princess Terute ordered one of her old servants to take the girl to the Hibari Mountains. This was the wildest part of the country and she ordered her servant to kill Hase-Hime there. 

She told her servant that she was doing this because a dreadful story of Hase-Hime had come out and the only way to prevent the disgrace on the family was to kill Hase-Hime. 

Katoda was Princess Terute’s vassal and he was bound to obey her.  

However, Katoda knew that the young princess was innocent of all the things that the stepmother had invented for him. 

He was determined to save Hase-Hime’s life. 

So he took Hase-Hime in a palanquin and accompanied her to the most solitary place he could find in the wild district.  

Hase-Hime was sure that her stepmother would not heed to her complaints about being sent away in a strange manner and so she was quiet and did as she was told. 

 With the help of some peasants around he built a cottage. The old servant decided not to return to the cruel stepmother. He stayed with the princess in the wilderness. He had his wife come to the place secretly. The two people did all in their power to take care of the princess.

Hase-Hime lived in the cottage with the two of them and hoped that her father would return soon and search for her.

Adapted from Japanese Folk Tales

Princess Hase’s Story - Part Three

In her nervousness, Princess Terute mixed up the two wine bottles. 

As a result of this her own son ended up drinking the poisoned wine. 

The doctors of the court tried their best to save the child. But nothing could be done. 

The doctors thought that the wine had disagreed with the boy, causing convulsions. 

Thus Princess Terute was punished for her wickedness and she lost her own child.

Instead of learning her lesson Princess Terute hated Hase-Hime even more. She waited for an opportunity to do irrevocable harm to Hase-Hime.

When Hase-Hime was thirteen years old, she had already become a great poet and everyone acknowledged it.

In the rainy season the waters of the flood rose every day. 

The river Tatsuta, which flowed from the emperor's palace, was overflowing from its banks. 

It so happened that the roaring of the river disturbed the emperor day and night and he was unable to sleep and because of this the emperor had a nervous disorder.  

The emperor sent an order all over the kingdom to get someone to stop the roaring of the river but to no avail.

It was spoken in the court that long ago a beautiful and gifted maiden who had moved the Heaven by praying and brought down rain on a famished land. The people in the court went and told the Emperor that if Princess Hase-Hime were to write a poem and offer it as a prayer, the roaring sounds of the waters would decrease. 

When the emperor heard these words. he ordered Prince Tayonari to bring his daughter to the court.

When Hase-Hime heard the emperor's words she was shocked.

But she wrote her poem on a leaflet of paper flecked with gold dust. 

She went to the bank of the roaring river and read the poem. 

On hearing her words, the water level decreased.

After that even the Emperor got back his health.

Adapted from Japanese Folk Tales

Princess Hase’s Story - Part Two

 

Though Hase-Hime's stepmother ill-treated her, the girl was patient and obeyed her stepmother's words and never gave any trouble. So Princess Terute had no cause for complaint against her.

Hase-Hime was a very diligent student and her favourite subjects were music and poetry. She would practice for hours every day. 

Her father taught her the art of Koto, which was the Japanese harp. Her father also taught her the art of writing letters and verses. 

At the age of twelve princess Hase-Hime could play the instrument beautifully.

During the Festival of Cherry Flowers, there was a great festivity in the court and the emperor ordered Princess Hase-Hime and Princess Terute to perform before him. 

The emperor sat on a raised dais so that the subjects could not see the emperor's face, but he could look at all of them.

Though Hase-Hime was very young, she was a skilled musician. 

On this occasion, she played well too. 

Princess Terute was a lazy woman and never took the trouble to practice daily. She broke down in her accompanying instrument and had to request one of the court Ladies to take her place.  

This was a great disgrace. However, princess Terute failed to understand the reason for her failure and she grew jealous of her step-daughter.

To make things worse for princess Terute, the emperor was impressed with Princess Hase-Hime’s talent and gave many beautiful gifts to the little princess for playing so well at the Festival of Cherry Flowers.  

It so happened that after some time, Princess Terute had a son of her own.

However, instead of loving the boy, all princess Terute could think of was if Hase-Hime had not been there her son would have all the love of the father. 

Princess Terute did not learn to control her thoughts and soon she decided to take her stepdaughter's life. 

It so happened that she ordered some poison and poisoned the sweet wine which had come to the palace. 

She put this poisoned wine in a bottle and in a similar bottle she poured some good wine as well.  

Hase-Hime was playing with her little brother at that time. She was telling the little boy wonderful stories about the toy Warriors and heroes that they were playing with. They were both enjoying themselves, when princess Terute came to their chambers.

Adapted from Japanese Folk Tales