Pathway to Japanese Literature

One

This is a tale from long, long ago, in the days of yore.
At that time, everything was completely different from now—even mice wore boots and walked about.
And then they took the cats one by one and ate them.
Donkeys too swaggered about with swords dangling from their sides.
Chickens constantly chased around and bullied dogs.

Since this was a time when everything was so topsy-turvy, speaking from now, it’s a tale from long, long ago in the days of yore, and even further back than that.
So all sorts of strange things kept happening.
But it is absolutely not a lie.

At that time, there was a beautiful princess belonging to a certain king.
Kings and princes from all over the world came one after another, every last one of them seeking to make that princess their bride.

However, no matter how splendid the suitor, the Princess would say “No!” and reject them outright.

Kings and princes from around the world still did not learn their lesson and came calling many times over.

The Princess, being so annoyed she couldn’t stand it, finally turned to her father the King and said, “Then, if there is someone who can stay awake for three nights and keep me from leaving my room, I shall become that person’s bride.”

The King promptly had the news announced throughout the world.
However, he also declared that if anyone were to doze off even for a moment, they would be slain immediately—so they had best come prepared.

Then kings and princes from various lands said, "What? If that’s all it takes, anyone could do it!" and came rushing in droves.

However, when night fell and they were taken to the Princess’s room, after watching her face for a while, anyone would grow drowsy and before they knew it, fall fast asleep.
And so, every last one of the suitors who came was slain by the King.

Now, there was a young prince in a certain kingdom—as beautiful as a deer and as brave as a hawk.
Hearing this, the Prince thought to himself, "If it’s me, I’ll definitely stay awake and guard her without fail. I’ll go and give it a try."

However, his father the King, fearing that if the Prince were to carelessly fall asleep it would spell disaster, said, "No, no—that won’t do," and absolutely would not grant permission.
With that, the Prince wanted to go even more, day after day,

“Please grant me this permission.
“It’s merely three nights.
“I shall absolutely not fall asleep,” he said while clinging to the King and entreating him.

Even the great King finally yielded and reluctantly declared, “Very well—do as you will.”

The Prince, overjoyed, stuffed his purse with heaps of coins, then no sooner had he attached a finely honed splendid sword to his side than he boldly set off without bringing any attendants.

Two

The Prince hurried along the long, long, faraway road.

Then on the second day, he encountered a stout man along the way.

The man appeared to have an extremely heavy body, dragging his feet as he walked sluggishly.

“Hey there, where might you be heading?” the Prince addressed the man.

“I am wandering the world in search of something called happiness,” answered the stout man.

“And what exactly is your trade?” asked the Prince.

“I don’t have what you’d call a proper trade.”
“I can do just one thing that others cannot.”

“Then, what is this one thing that others cannot do?”

“Oh, it’s nothing much.”
“My name is Bubbly, and whenever I please, my body swells up all by itself like a rubber bag.”
“First, if it’s a regiment of soldiers, I can inflate enough to swallow them all into my stomach.”

The stout man said this and, with a grin, suddenly began puffing up until he swelled into an enormous giant large enough to block the entire street in the blink of an eye.
The Prince was surprised and,

“Well, well! This is quite a useful man,” he remarked. “How about it? Won’t you become my companion starting today? I too am wandering in search of happiness, just like you,” he inquired. Then Bubbly, delighted, responded, “Please take me with you. It would be my greatest happiness,” and immediately became his servant.

The two of them trudged along for a while, and this time from ahead appeared a lanky man as skinny as a stick. The Prince,

"Hmm, a strange fellow's coming this way," he thought as he approached.

“Hey there, where might you be heading?” the Prince asked.

“I am walking around the world,” said the lanky man.

“And what exactly is your trade?” asked the Prince.

“I don’t have a trade. I can do just one thing that others cannot. My name is Long-Long. When I just stand on tiptoe like this”—he demonstrated—“my hands swiftly reach the heavens. And then”—he took an exaggerated step—“with a single stride, I can cover miles ahead. As you can see.”

No sooner had Long-Long said this than he smoothly stretched his body and, in the blink of an eye, thrust his head into the towering clouds. And no sooner had he taken five or six nimble steps than he was already five or six ri away. Then again, with a few more sprightly strides, he returned right before their eyes in the space of a heartbeat.

The Prince,

"Well now, here's a useful man!" he thought, completely impressed.
"Will you become my companion from now on?" he said.

“Right away! That’s a happiness I couldn’t wish for more,” Long-Long exclaimed with delight, immediately becoming his servant.
The Prince pressed onward with his two companions.
And before long, they arrived at a large forest.

Then there was a man there pulling up all the surrounding large trees one after another and steadily piling them up.

The Prince,

“Hey, what are you going to do with that pile?” he asked.

Then the man,

“Oh, it’s nothing. I just shoot fire from my eyes and burn all these logs at once,” he said, fixing his gaze intently on the mountain-like pile of wood. Then, from both eyes, with a fierce hiss, long flames spouted out and reduced all those logs to ashes in the blink of an eye.

“Well, well! This is splendid.
“How about it?
“Won’t you become my companion?” said the Prince.

"Yes, yes! Please do take me on," said the man, who became his servant.
This man was named Flame-Eyed Boy.

Three

Having taken on three such extraordinary men as his retainers, the Prince swelled with pride and marched onward with vigor.
However, unlike before, supporting the three of them required a great deal of money.
For while Flame-Eyed Boy and Long-Long only ate as much as an ordinary person would, Bubbly—whose stomach could expand endlessly—would devour things like a thousand kanme of beef or a thousand loaves of bread in one go, leaving everyone baffled as to where it all went.
Feeding such a man until he was full could not be managed with an ordinary amount of money.
Yet the Prince showed not the slightest sign of displeasure, letting them eat their fill and continuing to pay the money without hesitation.

Eventually, they finally arrived at the town where the Princess resided.
It was then that the Prince, for the first time, explained to the three of them the reason he had come all the way there.
"I earnestly wish to stay awake and keep watch all three nights," he said, "and if I succeed in marrying the Princess, I will give you all a generous reward."
The three of them, upon hearing that,

“If we accomplish what no one else has managed, first we’ll be able to boast before everyone in the world! We’ll do our very best to help you too,” they declared with rising courage.

The Prince bought fine kimonos for the three and dressed them in the garments. When night fell, he took everyone to the King’s palace and formally requested, “I beg you to permit me to guard Her Highness the Princess.”

The King amiably ushered the Prince and his retainers into a single chamber.

Before that，the Prince had strictly instructed the three companions that no matter what happened，they were not to tell anyone who he was，and that they must also keep it a strict secret that they could instantly stretch out smoothly，puff themselves up，or shoot fire when necessary.

The King turned to the Prince and,

"If you carelessly fall asleep and let the Princess escape from this room, I'll take all four of your lives—is that acceptable to you?" declared the King.

“I am well aware of that,” answered the Prince.

The King smirked as if barely refraining from saying, “You really shouldn’t…”,

“Then please come this way,” said the King as he led the Prince to the Princess’s room.
The Princess came out smiling and graciously welcomed the Prince.
Because the Princess was so beautiful, the Prince was dazzled and stood there dazedly for a while.
The Princess,

“Please,” she said, leading him to the most beautiful chair.

The King left the two of them there and took his leave.

In the meantime, Bubbly quietly came and crouched outside the door of the Princess’s room.
At the same time, Long-Long and Flame-Eyed Boy stealthily circled around to the outside and hid beneath the room’s window.

The Princess told the Prince all sorts of stories.
While keeping her company, the Prince paid vigilant attention to the Princess’s every move.
Then, before long, the Princess abruptly stopped talking and fell completely silent.
After some time had passed,

“Ah, how dreadfully sleepy I am.
It feels as though something bright red is suddenly covering my eyelids.
Please excuse me for a moment,” she said while suddenly lying down on the long sofa and closing her eyes.

Four

Even so, the Prince never let his guard down and continued watching the Princess's every move closely.
Then the Princess soon fell soundly asleep.

The Prince went to the table beside the long sofa, leaned on his elbows, supported his chin with his palm, and stared at the Princess's face without blinking.

However, before long, the Prince's eyelids gradually grew heavy on their own, and before he knew it, he began nodding off repeatedly.
Bubbly, Long-Long, and Flame-Eyed Boy had been straining their ears intently all along.

However, just as the Prince was about to fall asleep, these three also grew drowsy in the same way and finally began nodding off repeatedly.

When the Princess noticed that the Prince had fallen soundly asleep, she smiled sweetly and sat up.
In truth, she had been skillfully pretending to sleep all along, waiting for him to fall asleep.

And then, sitting up, she suddenly transformed into a small pigeon and flew out the window.
The Princess possessed this kind of versatile magical power.
Up until now, no matter who came to guard her, everyone ended up letting her escape—you can now understand why.

However, tonight of all nights, the Princess ended up failing in her attempt and was neatly caught by Flame-Eyed Boy and Long-Long. That was because, having transformed into a pigeon and flown out the window, her wing struck—with a sudden flap—the hair of Long-Long, who had been crouching in the darkness. Long-Long opened his eyes in surprise, "Oh! Someone’s escaped!" he shouted. Flame-Eyed Boy also opened his eyes, "Which way? Which way?" he shouted, eyes bulging with effort as he darted his gaze around in every direction. And each time that happened, long flames shot out from his eyes with a whoosh. Because of this, the fleeing pigeon had both its wings instantly scorched pitch black.

The pigeon, startled, immediately perched on the tip of a tall tree nearby. Then Long-Long instantly stretched his body out smoothly and swiftly caught the pigeon with both hands. The pigeon, having no choice, returned to the original form of the Princess and was led back to the room by Long-Long. Unaware of any of this, the Prince, who had been sleeping soundly, was shaken awake by Long-Long and opened his eyes in surprise.

In this way, the Princess was finally unable to escape that night.

Five

The next morning, the King was astonished to see that the Prince had properly guarded the Princess and remained sitting in the room exactly as he had been the previous night.

However, since he had not let the Princess escape and had kept watch the entire night, there was nothing he could do.

The King had no choice but to entertain the Prince and his companions courteously and, that night, had them stand guard once again.

And so, that night as well, the Prince fell fast asleep again.
Long-Long, Bubbly, and Flame-Eyed Boy—the three of them—also began dozing off in the same way.

The Princess, seizing her chance, transformed into a pigeon once more tonight and flew out of the room.

Then, just as before, she collided with Long-Long’s head, had her wings scorched by Flame-Eyed Boy, and was once again caught by Long-Long.

When morning came, the King was astonished anew.

For if the Princess were to fail again tonight—this third night—his only daughter would be taken by that unknown youth from who-knows-where, even the King realized he could not afford complacency.

Therefore, he secretly summoned the Princess and,

“Tonight, use every last secret of your magic and make absolutely certain you escape.”
“Should you fail this time, you won’t escape unscathed either,” he declared sternly.

The Princess,

“I understand.Tonight I will surely let those people escape,” she said.

Meanwhile,the Prince once again gathered Bubbly、Long-Long,and Flame-Eyed Boy—the three of them—and made arrangements for tonight’s plan.

“Alright then,I’m counting on you to stay alert.If things go wrong、it won’t just be me—you three will lose your heads too,”the Prince said with a laugh.

Long-Long and the other two were.

“Oh, it’s perfectly fine,” they replied with composure.

Before long, night fell completely.

The Prince then went to the Princess’s room and, just as he had the previous night, took his seat facing her on a chair.

The Prince was determined not to fall asleep tonight no matter what and kept watch with bated breath.

Then, after a while, the Princess, following her usual pattern,

“Oh, how sleepy I am. My! Why ever am I growing so sleepy? I feel like something bright red is swaying down over both my eyes. I’ll rest for a moment—excuse me,” she said unsteadily rising to her feet, then lay down on the long sofa and fell sound asleep.

The Prince—thinking he wouldn’t fall for that trick tonight—leaned both elbows on the table, his eyes gleaming like a hawk’s as he stared intently at the Princess’s face. Then, before long, the Prince’s eyelids grew heavy on their own, and he ended up falling asleep again tonight. Then, at that very moment, Long-Long, Bubbly, and Flame-Eyed Boy—who had been so boastful—all began nodding off in unison.

The Princess had been skillfully pretending to sleep all along, waiting for the Prince and his companions to fall asleep.

The Prince was snoring loudly, sleeping like a stone.

The Princess smiled to herself upon seeing this and quietly rose.
This time, transforming nimbly into a small fly to avoid detection, she darted swiftly out through the window.

Yet by ill fortune tonight too, in her momentum she collided precisely with Flame-Eyed Boy's nose tip.
Flame-Eyed Boy started,

“Darn it! She got away!” he exclaimed, and with a sudden whooshing sound shot flames from both eyes.

The fly instantly transformed into a small fish and leaped into the spring ahead.
Flame-Eyed Boy witnessed this and woke up Long-Long, Bubbly, and the Prince.
Everyone was startled, leapt up, and rushed to the spring alongside Flame-Eyed Boy.

Six

When they went to look, the spring was so deep that they couldn't even see the bottom.
However, Long-Long,

“Nah, I’ll catch her,” said Long-Long while plunging his head into the water and smoothly stretching his body all the way to the bottom. And with both hands, he searched every corner of the water’s bottom without leaving a single spot. But no matter how much he stirred the water, they couldn’t find a trace of where the fish had hidden. Bubbly saw this, “Hey, Longy! I’ve got an idea,” he said while making Long-Long shrink back to his original size and plunging into the spring with a splash. And then, suddenly puffing up his body, he inflated to fill the entire spring.

Therefore, the water gushed out rapidly and spread across the entire area like a great flood.
The Prince and the other two searched through the water.
But where had the fish gone? No matter how much they searched, not a shadow of it could be found.
Flame-Eyed Boy grew impatient,

“Hey hey, that’s not working, Bubbly.
Now it’s my turn,” he said.
Bubbly had no choice but to hurriedly shrink his body.
Along with that, the water returned once again to its original spring.

Flame-Eyed Boy, once the water had completely returned to its original spring,

“Alright, here we go,” he said, widening his eyes and staring fixedly at the water’s surface. Then, from his two eyes, long flames shot out with a whooshing sound, as was his custom. Flame-Eyed Boy kept staring fixedly without taking a breath, his gaze unbroken.

So in the end, all the water in the spring bubbled and boiled violently from those flames, gushing onto the ground like boiling water spilling from a cauldron. Before long, a single small fish—half-cooked—suddenly leapt up onto the ground. The fish couldn’t stand the heat anymore, so when it touched the earth, it immediately turned back into the Princess. The Prince, overjoyed, rushed to her side and

“Well? I’ve finally captured you properly all three nights, haven’t I? As promised, you belong to me now,” he said. The Princess’s face turned crimson,

“Please take me with you.
“Father will resign himself and do as you have said.”

It was then, for the first time, that the Prince—

“Actually, I am such-and-such a prince,” he said, and explained his circumstances.
Even before hearing this, the Princess had already been filled with secret admiration for the Prince’s admirable character, though he was still a stranger to her.
Since she now knew he was a splendid prince, there was not a single objection to him as a groom.
Overjoyed, the Princess went to the King as soon as dawn broke and told him everything about the previous night.

Then, because the King couldn’t bear to part with his only daughter by giving her to a stranger, when he met the Prince, he resorted to double-dealing—unbefitting a king—and

“I cannot give that child to anyone.”

And, absolutely furious, he declared.

However, the Prince, refusing to engage with such a deceitful king, ordered his three retainers to seize the princess by exploiting the king’s moment of distraction and hurriedly departed from the palace.

Seven

The King, upon suddenly noticing that the Princess had vanished without a trace,

“Oh my, this is terrible! Those four must have taken her away! Chase after them and take her back! Quickly, quickly!” he barked, his face turning crimson as he issued his command. Then, the King’s soldiers—no sooner had someone shouted “Charge!” than a great multitude of thousands leapt onto their horses at once and raced out like a gale, whooshing through the air.

The Prince and his companions fled far away, pulling the Princess by the hand. Then from behind came a tremendous clatter of hooves—clip-clop! clip-clop! While running, the Prince called to his three retainers: "Hey! What's that?" Flame-Eyed Boy looked back and exclaimed: "Oh! Soldiers! Ah! Soldiers! Horsemen charging like a gale!" The Princess heard this.

“Then it must be Father’s soldiers coming to kill you all.”
“Ah! I have an excellent idea.”
“Please wait just a moment,” she said breathlessly, making the Prince and his companions release her hand.
Meanwhile, the cavalry—

“Whoaah!” they roared with a battle cry, closing in right behind the Prince and his companions. The Princess, thinking it would be disastrous if the Prince were injured, hurriedly pulled off the face covering she was wearing. At that exact moment, the wind was blowing toward the soldiers. The Princess hurriedly threw the face covering backward, “Now, grow! Grow as many trees as there are threads in this face covering,” she chanted the magic spell. Then, immediately behind everyone, big trees sprang up densely all at once, and in the blink of an eye, a vast forest had formed. The soldiers—

“Huh?!” they exclaimed, floundering as they struggled to force their way through the trees.
The Prince and his three retainers took advantage of that moment to desperately flee with the Princess.

After running nonstop for a while, they finally felt safe enough to take a rest.
The Prince,

“Are they still chasing us? Go and see,” he ordered Flame-Eyed Boy.
Flame-Eyed Boy promptly stretched up to look and saw that the soldiers had just managed to push through the earlier forest and were now charging forward again, kicking up clouds of dust.
The Prince,

“In that case we can’t afford to dawdle! Let’s get out of here!” he said standing up.
Then the Princess,
“No no it’s quite alright.
Please rest a little longer,” she said while letting a single teardrop flow from her eyes,
“Now Tear become a great river,” she said.
Then immediately an enormous river formed there.
Reassured by that the Prince took the Princess’s hand and fled again.

They all ran on and on without stopping for a long time, then took a short rest while thinking they were finally safe now.

“Well? Are they still chasing us?” the Prince asked, having Flame-Eyed Boy check once again.
Flame-Eyed Boy turned around and stood on tiptoe,

“Oh no, they’ve finally crossed that river and are chasing us again!” he said.
When the Princess heard that,

“What should I do?”
“With my own power, there’s nothing more I can do.”
“Is there any way we could turn this day into night?” she said.

Then Long-Long,

“Ah, then there’s no trouble at all,” he said while stretching his body smoothly. And in the blink of an eye, he stretched all the way up to the heavens. Everyone watched in astonishment to see what he would do, when Long-Long, high among the clouds, took off his hat and lightly placed it over one side of the sun. Then, in the world below, light fell only where the Prince and companions stood, while half the direction from which soldiers charged suddenly turned dark as night.

While the soldiers were floundering in the darkness,

“Run, run!” he urged while once again taking the Princess’s hand and dashing off in great haste.
Long-Long watched until he saw that the Prince and his companions had fled a good distance away, then lightly took off his hat and put it back on his head.
And with his long legs that could span one ri in a single step, he lightly bounded over and caught up to the Prince’s side in the blink of an eye.

Then, they all continued running together once more.
Before long, the town where the Prince’s palace was located came into view in the distance.

The Prince,

“Well? Have the soldiers turned back yet? Take a quick look,” the Prince said to Flame-Eyed Boy.
Flame-Eyed Boy looked back again.
“Oh no—I can already see a dust cloud over there! This is bad!” he panicked.
Then Bubbly,

“Now, everyone, please escape without concern. I’ll stay here and handle things properly,” he said, letting the Prince and his companions escape ahead.

Eight

Bubbly stood alone blocking their path and, with a bubbling bloating sound, rapidly swelled up into a massive mountain-like form. And then, opening his large mouth wide, “Come on!” he said calmly, waiting in readiness. The soldiers,

With cries of "Charge! Charge!", they raised their battle shouts and charged forward in desperate frenzy.
The soldiers had steeled themselves: even if they had to plunge through fire, they would retrieve the Princess; if their opponent refused to hand her over, they would storm and surround the town, slaughtering every last soul within it.

Before long, the soldiers came charging right up to Bubbly's mouth.
In their panic—like embers scattering from a blaze—they mistook Bubbly's gaping maw for the town gate and came leaping into it one after another with thunderous crashes!
Once all those thousands of soldiers had completely entered his stomach, Bubbly,

“Ha ha ha. There we go,” he laughed, ambling leisurely toward town.

Bubbly had swallowed all those soldiers along with their horses into his stomach, so his walking was somewhat impaired, but he nevertheless strode into town with great lumbering steps.

In the town, everyone was overjoyed and danced in celebration, for the Prince had successfully kept watch without sleeping and returned having married the most splendid princess in the world.
When the Prince saw Bubbly,

“Oh, you’ve returned? And what happened to those soldiers?” he asked.
Bubbly, grinning slyly, gave his large belly a hearty pat and—
“As you can see here, I’ve put all of them inside here,” he said.

The Prince laughed heartily, “Ha ha!”

“That’s enough now—let them out,” said the Prince.

“That’s right.
The soldiers and horses must be hard to digest, I suppose.
It’d be a hassle if they give me the runs later, so let’s just spit them out now.”

Having said this, Bubbly made his way to the large square in the center of town.
The townspeople were astonished by the arrival of a gigantic, mountain-like man and, clamoring noisily, all trailed along behind him in a crowd.
When Bubbly arrived at the square,

“Now, everyone, clear the way! It’s dangerous!” he said while shooing away the people crowding the main street.
And pressing both hands against his sides,

“Cough, cough, cough,” he coughed.
Each time he did so, clusters of ten cavalrymen plopped out from his stomach.
The townspeople,
“Whoa! Whoa!” they cried in amusement, all clapping their hands and cheering.
The cavalrymen who had tumbled out fled without looking back, their faces as pale as death.
Bubbly,
“Cough, cough! Cough, cough!” he hacked repeatedly until finally he expelled every last one of the thousands of cavalrymen without leaving a single man behind.
The very last soldier to jump out, confused, leaped into Bubbly’s nostril and flailed about.
Bubbly,

“Ugh, annoying,” he said, and with a loud “Achoo!”, he sneezed.
With a pop, the soldier was blown out of his nostril and fled, tumbling together with his horse.

At the palace, it was decided that the Prince and Princess's royal wedding ceremony would be held. Therefore, since the Princess's father, the King, also had to be invited, the Prince hurriedly sent Long-Long on the errand. Long-Long bounded forward with his signature legs—light and swift—striding a ri at a time until he promptly arrived at the King's palace across the way. When he looked, he saw that none of the soldiers who had fled on horseback had yet returned—not a single one.

Long-Long, taking advantage of arriving first, earnestly pleaded with the King to spare the life of the soldiers’ general.
Otherwise, the general, having returned empty-handed without retrieving the Princess, would surely be beheaded as punishment.

When the King heard that his daughter’s suitor was such a splendid prince, he was overjoyed and immediately set out for the Prince’s location with his royal entourage.
And so the royal wedding ceremony was completed without a hitch.

Bubbly, Long-Long, and Flame-Eyed Boy—the three who had helped the Prince and accomplished various great deeds—received a splendid reward.