Pathway to Japanese Literature

The Golden Bird

1

There was a poor peasant couple.
The couple already had many children, and yet another boy was born to them in their hardship.

However, because their household was so terribly poor, people were reluctant, and no one would agree to become the child’s naming parent.

The couple was troubled, wondering what to do.
Then, one morning, a frail old beggar man came to ask for alms.
The couple, feeling sorry for him, shared their own food with him.

The old beggar man, seeing the couple acting dejectedly, asked them what was wrong.
They explained that they were in trouble because there was no one willing to become the naming parent for their newborn child.
The old man heard this,

“Then I’ll do it for you.
Just because it’s me doesn’t mean you’ll have any cause for regret in the future,” he kindly assured them.
The couple, no longer caring whether he was a beggar or not, took him along to the temple.

The priest asked the old beggar for the child’s name.
The old beggar had completely forgotten to discuss the name beforehand.

“Ah, right!
“I haven’t decided on a name yet.”
“Let’s call him Willie,” the old man said offhandedly.
The priest wrote down “Willie” as is in the register.
The peasant couple rejoiced at having received a good name for their child, brought the old man back to their home, prepared the best feast they could manage, and held a naming celebration.

At parting, the old man took out a small, rusty key from his pocket,

“Please keep this stored away until Willie turns fourteen and then give it to him.”
“When he turns fourteen, I will give him a fine celebration gift.”
“And this key will fit into it perfectly,” he said.
The old man never came to the village again after that.

Willie grew up strong and healthy.
Moreover, he was a very honest child who never caused any trouble.

The parents did not take proper care of the key left by the old beggar man and simply threw it aside.
Willie turned it into a toy and eventually lost it somewhere.

Willie gradually grew into a strong, sturdy boy who helped his father with farm work.

One day while Willie was loading manure onto a cart, a small key emerged from within—bright red and thoroughly rusted.
Willie showed it to his mother.
It was the same key the old beggar man had left behind long ago.
His mother finally remembered what the old man had said and told Willie about it for the first time.
From that moment on, Willie always kept the key safely in his pocket and treasured it.

Before long, Willie's fourteenth birthday arrived.
When Willie got up early that morning and looked out the window, right in front of their doorway—where nothing had stood just the day before—a neat little house had somehow appeared overnight.
The parents too came out in surprise to look.
From top to bottom, it was adorned with beautiful carved decorations, and though small, compared to Willie’s family’s rundown house, it was as splendid as a palace.

However, the house had not a single window, with only one doorway high up under the roof. The doorway was locked. The parents were utterly mystified, wondering how such a house had suddenly appeared. Willie declared, “This must surely be the gift that the old man gave me some time ago.” Having said this, he took out the key from his pocket and inserted it into the lock of the doorway. It matched perfectly, and the door swung open smoothly.

Willie immediately went inside to look.
Inside stood a beautiful little gray horse, quiet and still.
It was properly fitted with a splendid saddle and bridle, ready to ride right away.
On the nearby wall hung a splendid set of newly made clothes—both top and bottom—neatly arranged on a nail.

Willie immediately tried on those clothes.
They fit him perfectly, as if tailored precisely to his measurements.
Then he mounted the horse and placed both feet in the stirrups, which also matched the length of his legs perfectly.

Willie wanted to go out into the world just as he was and test his luck.
So he immediately told his parents about it and hurried off.

Two

Willie kept urging the horse onward. When they had traveled quite some distance, the horse suddenly spoke up:

“Willie, when you’re hungry, place your hand behind my right ear. When you’re thirsty, touch behind my left ear,” he said in clear human speech.

Willie was startled,

“Oh, you can talk? That’s the best thing possible!” Willie rejoiced. Not only that, but simply by touching its ears, food and drink would immediately appear from somewhere—there could be nothing more convenient than this.

Willie urged the horse onward, steadily crossing hills and valleys, until at last they entered a large, cool forest. And he walked slowly to let the horse catch its breath.

Before long, Willie suddenly noticed something glittering lying in the distance. It was a single bird feather with a golden light. Willie, thinking it was a rare feather and wanting to pick it up, tried to get down from the horse. Then the horse stopped him,

“No, no! You mustn’t!”
“Leave it alone.”
“If you pick that up, something terrible will happen.”
Willie passed by as he was.

However, after traveling a short while longer, another similar golden-glowing feather lay fallen.
This one was even more glittering and beautiful than the previous feather.

Willie got down from the horse and tried to pick it up.
Then the horse again,

“Leave it alone.”
“If you pick it up, you’ll regret it later,” he said.
So he left it untouched and passed by, but before long, a third one—even more beautiful than the previous two—lay fallen on the ground.
The horse once again,

“Stop it, stop it!” the horse said.

“Listen to what I say.”
“I’m not telling you anything wrong.”

Though the horse kept trying to stop him, Willie wanted it so badly he couldn’t resist, and ignoring the horse’s words, he finally leapt down and picked it up.
Then he found himself wanting not just that one feather but all the previous ones too.
Willie deliberately backtracked and thoroughly gathered all three feathers.

Those feathers were truly mysterious. When looked at individually, each one glowed golden in the same way, but when arranged together, they formed a single painting of a woman's face. It showed a woman of indescribable beauty—what one might consider to be the most beautiful in all the world. Willie stared at that face in astonishment.

Willie finally put away the feathers into his pocket and set the horse running again.
And as they kept running onward and onward, they finally arrived before a large castle.
The horse said,
“This is the king’s castle. Enter here and have them take you on as a servant.”
Willie immediately went to the head of the king’s stables,
“Please, won’t you employ me?” he requested.

"If I may just receive feed for my horse, I won’t need any salary at all," he said.
And so he was taken on as a stablehand.

Willie learned from the head stableman and diligently tended to the King’s horses.
He also took good care of his own horse.
And for some time, nothing happened, and he lived uneventfully.

Willie had been given a room beside the stables.
When his evening work was done, Willie would return to that room, tightly shut the window as always, and take out those three feathers.
The feathers glittered like the sun, making the room as bright as day.

Willie drew the beautiful woman’s face visible in the room onto paper every night.
However, he couldn’t draw it as well as he wanted to, and every time he ended up redoing several sheets over and over.

In the stable building, it was strictly prohibited to ever light a lamp at night.
And so, Willie always kept his windows tightly shut, but in the end, someone noticed that a light was on there and reported it to the stablemaster.

The stablemaster went to verify it himself.
When he did so, a light was indeed leaking from Willie’s room.

Willie, sensing that someone had come, hurriedly hid the feathers.
So when the stablemaster entered, the room was already pitch dark.
The stablemaster took away the unfinished drawing.

The next day, the stablemaster went to the King and reported Willie’s actions, explaining that while he didn’t know what kind of light the boy was using, in any case, he had been drawing such pictures with it, and presented the retrieved drawing.
The King immediately had Willie summoned.

“What is this drawing?” asked Your Majesty.

“I drew it,” Willie replied humbly.

The King pressed further,

“Are there still more?” inquired the King.
Willie honestly replied that there were still several more sheets and brought all the remaining ones to present them for His Majesty’s inspection.

When His Majesty looked, there were thirty sheets in total.
They were all paintings depicting the face of the same single woman.
Among them, the one drawn last had turned out the best.
The King,

“What did you trace this from? You claim not to use any lamp—can you truly draw in darkness?” demanded His Majesty.

Willie had no choice but to fully explain about the feathers.
Then the King ordered him to show the feathers.

The King, just as Willie had said, arranged the three feathers and looked upon the woman’s face visible at their center—then became utterly astonished,

“Whose face is this?” inquired Your Majesty.
Willie himself didn’t know, so he couldn’t say whose face it was.

Then the King,

“Are you hiding something from me? Very well, I shall tell you. This is the face of the most beautiful princess in this entire world,” declared His Majesty.

The King was now quite advanced in years, yet he had never taken a queen. There was a profound reason for this. In his youth, His Majesty had attacked and destroyed another country and killed its king. That king had one princess. The King decided to make her his queen. Then, the Princess secretly fled somewhere, and they could no longer track her down. The King sent people far and wide to search exhaustively, but in the end, they never found her. The King absolutely refused to accept any princess other than her, and thus to this day, he had not taken anyone.

However, it was no wonder he had been so astonished upon seeing Willie’s feathers now.
The face in the feathers was that of the princess whom the King had been unable to forget for even a single day until then.

The King told Willie about this.
And,

“Since you possess this portrait, you must know where the princess is.
Go immediately and bring her here,” he commanded.

Willie truthfully reported, “I found these feathers just lying in the forest, so I truly don’t know where such a princess could be.” However, the King would not listen and declared, “You must bring her here without fail. If you cannot do so, I will have you beheaded right here on the spot.” Willie, afraid of being killed, reluctantly replied that he would go and search for her then.

Three

Willie returned to the stable and consulted his small gray horse about how to deal with the King making such an unreasonable demand.

"That is the curse of the very first feather you picked up. I tried so hard to stop you, but you wouldn't listen," said the Gray Horse.

"First of all—is that princess even still alive?"

"There's no need for concern. I will take good care of everything for you," said the Gray Horse.

“The Princess is indeed the most beautiful person in the entire world.”
“Even now, she remains alive and well.”
“However, she resides in the farthest reaches of the world.”
“To reach that place, you will first need a large ship.”
“Moreover, unless it’s a sturdy ship—completely built from mahogany wood, fastened with copper nails, and wrapped in copper plates—it simply won’t survive the journey there,” said the Horse.

Willie went to the King and requested that such a ship be built for him.

The King promptly ordered his officials to construct it.
It took a considerable number of days.

Willie went to the horse and informed it that the ship was ready.
Then the horse said,
“Then ask Your Majesty to prepare a hundred barrels each of meat, bread, and maggots.
In addition to that, you will need one hundred carts to carry two barrels each, and two hundred leather ropes to pull those carts.
Then ask Your Majesty to gather two hundred sailors.”

Willie had them all properly prepared and loaded them onto the ship.
Two hundred sailors also boarded.
The Gray Horse,

“That’s enough now. Finally give me a bale of barley,” said the Gray Horse. “Then loosen these reins and board the ship immediately.”

Willie did as the horse instructed and boarded the ship.
And just as they were about to leave shore, the Gray Horse suddenly transformed into a white muku dog, leapt onto the ship, and crouched at Willie’s feet.
Willie rejoiced at having gained what he thought would be an ideal companion for traversing seas and hills during their long journey ahead.

The ship, driven by a tailwind, glided smoothly over the waves and soon reached the heart of the vast ocean.

Then, the white dog told him to give all the hundred barrels of maggots that had been prepared to the fish.
Willie immediately opened the barrels and threw all the maggots into the sea.
The dog told him to give the empty barrels to the whales.
Willie threw those as well, one after another.

The fish, having received this unexpected feast, gathered around in great delight and ate while exclaiming, "Yummy, yummy!"
The whales all came out, picked up the barrels one by one, turned them into balls, and played with great delight.

The ship then sailed on and on endlessly until it finally arrived at the land at the edge of the world.

Willie disembarked from the ship, loaded a hundred barrels each of meat and bread onto a hundred carts, attached two hundred leather ropes to them, and had two hundred sailors—two sailors each—pull the carts as they advanced.

Then up ahead, an enormous pack of wolves and a massive group of bears—starving from hunger—were locked in vicious combat.
With fangs bared and claws raised as they bit and tore at each other, Willie’s party found their path blocked.

Willie saw this and unloaded a hundred barrels of meat from the carts to toss to them.
The animals rejoiced at once—ceasing their battle—and cleared the way.

Pressing onward again, they next encountered hulking giants who—also famished—were embroiled in a brutal struggle over a mere morsel of bread.
Quick to grasp the situation, Willie promptly gave them a hundred barrels of bread.
The giants bowed repeatedly with deep gratitude.

“We have been fighting for exactly a hundred years. Thanks to you, we can finally get food into our mouths. In return for this kindness, we will do anything for you. If you have any need, please command us,” they said.

Willie sent all the sailors back to the ship from there and then proceeded onward, now alone with the dog.

Then, far in the distance, a beautiful castle sparkled brilliantly in the sunlight.
The dog said,

“Please wait here for a while. That castle is surrounded by poisonous snakes and dragons that kill all who approach. However, those serpents and dragons sleep for three hours during the day’s hottest time. If you slip through quietly during that window, you’ll be safe.” Willie did exactly as told and safely entered the castle with the dog.

The castle gate, along with all the inner doors, had been left wide open.

IV

Willie left the dog waiting outside, passed through several large rooms, and upon entering the innermost room, found a single golden bird sleeping peacefully there.
The bird's feathers were the same feathers Willie had picked up before.
Willie, having been instructed by the dog, quietly approached the bird and plucked the longest feather attached to its tail.

The bird opened its eyes in surprise, and in an instant, it transformed into a beautiful princess.
That was the princess from the feather's image.

“You managed to pass through my bears and wolves quite well,” said the Princess.

“When I gave them plenty of meat, they let me through,” answered Willie.

“Then how did you pass through where my giants were?” asked the Princess.

“I gave them plenty of bread.”

“And what about the poisonous snakes and dragons?”

“I passed through while they were all asleep.”

“What on earth have you come here for?”

“The truth is, my king earnestly wishes to make you his queen, so I have come all this way to bring you back,” said Willie. “Please come with me.”

The Princess replied,
“Then let us depart together tomorrow. But first, let us go over there and have our meal.”
Willie followed the Princess into a magnificent grand hall.
There lay an array of exquisite dishes neatly arranged.

Because Willie had been well instructed by the dog, he ate only the very first plate and didn't touch any of the subsequent plates at all.

When the meal was finished, the Princess showed him around various rooms.
No matter what he looked at, everything was breathtakingly beautiful.
However, strangely enough, within this vast castle, there was not a single person besides this Princess who had been a bird until just moments before.

The Princess finally led him to a splendid bedroom,

“Please sleep in any of the beds here,” said the Princess.
Willie declined that offer, went to the gate, and slept together with the dog.

The next morning, Willie went to the Princess,

“Please come along with me,” he requested.
The Princess,

“I will go, but first you must try to find me within this skein of silk thread.”

No sooner had she said this and pointed to the multicolored skeins of silk thread stacked on a nearby table than she abruptly vanished.

Willie, having been properly instructed by the dog, selected the skein that was slightly darker in color than the others, took out a knife from his pocket, and tried to slice it in two.
Then the Princess hurriedly materialized,

"If that gets cut, my life will end.
Please stop," she implored.

The Princess then took Willie once again to yesterday’s grand hall where they ate a feast together.
Willie followed what the dog had told him and this time ate only from the very last plate.

The Princess finally suggested again, just as she had done yesterday, that he rest in one of the bedroom’s beds, but Willie once more declined and slept by the gate with the dog.

The following morning, Willie,

“Today, please set out with me,” he said to the Princess.

The Princess,

“Well then, before that, try finding me within this bundle of straw,” she said, concealing herself within it. Willie selected a straw bundle from among them that was slightly lighter than the others and pretended to cut it with his knife. The Princess, startled, revealed herself and apologized, “If that straw is cut, my life will be lost.” “Then let us be on our way,” he said.

The Princess went around locking each door in every room one by one.
Then last of all, she locked the entrance gate as well.
And taking all those keys, she left the castle with Willie.

They walked a long, long road and finally arrived at the seaside.
The ship immediately raised its sails and headed back to the vast sea it had come from.
The Princess secretly threw the bundle of keys she had brought from the castle into the sea during the journey.
The dog saw this and quietly spoke to Willie.

Willie promptly asked the fish to search for the keys.
The fish, having been fed many maggots during their passage, scoured the seafloor with desperate earnestness in return.

However, because it was a vast, vast sea, they couldn’t be found easily.
The fish dashed about frantically.
And at long last, a sawfish finally emerged with the bundle of keys clutched in its mouth.
The keys had fallen between the rocks on the seabed.
Because the sawfish had forced its head into there to pull them out, its jaw was completely injured.
Therefore, the jaw of that fish remains uneven in length to this day.

Willie received those keys and hid them so the Princess wouldn't find out.

After a long time, the ship finally arrived back at its original port.

The King was overjoyed when he saw the Princess.
The Princess’s age and beauty remained exactly as they had been.

The King immediately decided to hold a wedding ceremony with the Princess.

However, the Princess insisted she would not have it unless her castle was brought near the King’s palace.
The King summoned Willie,

“Why didn’t you bring back the castle while you were at it?
Go at once and bring it back immediately.
Otherwise I’ll take your life!”

Having said this, he flew into a rage.
Willie, at a loss, returned to the stable and said to his small horse.

"How could I possibly bring that huge castle here?" he said.
"I think it'd be better if they just killed me."
"And seeing how that old King means to wed such a young lovely Princess - poor thing can't bear it."
"If I got myself killed,I'd never have to see such misery.That'd suit me fine."

Having said this,he slumped dejectedly.
The horse listened,

“This is what came of you picking up that second feather,” he said. “But I’ll help you again this time. Go straight to the King now and have him prepare a ship like before, with the same number of sailors, maggots, meat, bread, carts, and leather ropes—exactly as last time.”

When everything was ready, Willie boarded the ship with the dog and set sail. Just as before, the fish received maggots and the whales got empty barrels. The wolves and bears took the meat, while the giants received bread. Willie led one of those giants to the princess’s castle. The fortress glimmered in the sunlight.

The giants all carried the castle together and effortlessly brought it to the seaside.
Then the whales all came forth there, loaded it onto their backs, transported it to the far port, and pushed it up beside the King's palace.
The King was delighted, thinking he could finally hold his wedding ceremony now.

Then the Princess,

“Though the castle has finally arrived, since all the room doors are closed, it serves no purpose at all.”
“I lost those keys on my way here.”
“I cannot possibly hold the wedding ceremony until those rooms are opened.”

Having said this, she refused.
The King,

“That’s utterly preposterous!
‘I’ll have keys made at once,’ he declared, hastily summoning master blacksmiths.
Yet those blacksmiths found themselves utterly unable to forge any key that would fit the castle gate’s lock.
In the end, every last smith in the realm came forth—but not one could craft a matching key.”

The King, having no other choice, summoned Willie once again,

“Open that gate and the doors of every single room. If you don’t open them immediately, I’ll take your life!” declared the King.

Willie was not troubled in the least this time because he himself properly had the key.

Five

When the Princess thought that now the wedding would finally take place since the gates and rooms were all open, she once again made an unreasonable demand.

“Since we’re at it, I would like to request one bottle of the Water of Life and one bottle of the Water of Death. If you procure those for me, I will proceed with the wedding ceremony. Since you have heard everything up to now, I earnestly request that you grant this as well.”

The King once again summoned Willie and declared， “Bring me the Water of Life and the Water of Death! If you fail to do so，I’ll take your life immediately!”
Willie went to the stable and，

“This time, I’ll surely be killed for good. I don’t know who’ll strangle me, but I don’t care about that anymore.” Having said this, he bid farewell to his horse. The horse,

“This is the consequence of picking up that third feather,” said the horse. “This happened because you refused to heed my warnings no matter how hard I tried to stop you. But I’ll help you one last time—go ask the King for two silver bottles.”

Willie obtained the silver bottles and, following the horse's instructions, had "Water of Life" engraved on one and "Water of Death" on the other.

“Then quickly saddle up,” said the horse.
Willie soon mounted the horse and hurried off.

At that moment, the Princess, who was standing at the window watching,

“If that helper remains with you, you will surely find it,” the Princess said to Willie.

Willie crossed many mountains and valleys, and finally arrived at a large forest in a distant, unknown country.

The horse lowered Willie under a large tree in that forest.
On top of that tree, crows had built a nest.
The horse instructed Willie to wait until the parent crows flew away, then climb the tree during their absence, kill one young crow in the nest, and quietly place the bottle containing the Water of Life inside it.

Willie did exactly as instructed—placed the bottle inside, climbed back down, and watched intently.
Before long, the parent crows returned.
The parent crows, upon seeing that one of their young crows was dead, suddenly snatched the bottle there and hurriedly flew off somewhere.
Then, before long, they returned and sprinkled the water from the bottle onto the dead young crow’s body.
Then the young crow immediately came back to life.

Willie hurriedly climbed up to the nest, chased away the parent crows, and retrieved the bottle.
Inside it, half of the water still remained.
Next, after saying this, the horse had Willie catch a snake and bring it back.
The horse said that since stroking its head would keep it from biting, he should place it along with the bottle of Water of Death into the crow’s nest.
Willie took the bottle and the snake and climbed up.
Then, the parent crows snatched the bottle again and hurriedly flew off somewhere.

The parent crows soon returned and sprinkled the water from the bottle onto the snake.
The snake died immediately.
Willie hurriedly climbed the tree, chased away the parent crows, and retrieved the bottle.
This time, there was still a considerable amount of water left in the bottle.

Willie, holding the two bottles, spurred the horse and returned.

The Princess now had no choice but to hold the wedding ceremony this time.
However, before that, she said, “I would like to have the two waters tested to see if they truly work.”
Since there was no one willing to be killed for this test, the King summoned Willie once more and declared, “Since you brought this, it’s only natural you test whether it works.”
The Princess immediately took the bottle of Water of Death and sprinkled it on Willie’s body.
Willie died instantly.
The Princess next sprinkled the Water of Life over his corpse.
Then Willie immediately came back to life—now transformed into a man so radiantly handsome he outshone his former self—and rose to his feet.
Upon seeing this, the King thought he too wanted to become young and beautiful in such a manner,

“Then, I too wish to die once and come back to life,” declared the King.

The Princess, upon hearing this command, promptly sprinkled the Water of Death over the King, then applied the Water of Life to revive him.
The King, driven by greed, thought he wanted to become even more beautiful and asked to be killed once again.

The Princess sprinkled the Water of Death once more.
However, when she tried to sprinkle the Water of Life this time, not a single drop remained.

"Oh dear, there’s nothing more we can do now," said the Princess.
The King finally met his end, becoming nothing more than a true corpse.

When that happened, someone to succeed him was needed.
The Princess said,

“That can be none other than Willie.
Who else could have transformed me from a bird back into a human, brought me back from such far, faraway places, brought such a large castle here, and retrieved both the Water of Life and Water of Death?
There is nothing strange about such a great person ascending to the throne.”
The other people, fearing the remaining Water of Death in the bottle the Princess held in her hand, did not dare oppose her.
Therefore, Willie finally became the King.
The most beautiful princess in the world gladly became Willie’s queen consort.

On the day of the royal wedding, Willie went to the little gray horse and joyfully said, "It’s all thanks to you."

The Horse,

“Now then, please grant my request this time. Draw your sword, cut off my head, place it near my tail, and pray three times,” he entreated.
Willie was startled,

“How could I possibly do something like kill you?” he said.

“But that will bring me happiness.
It will never be a bad thing.
Please, do exactly as I say,” the horse repeated his request.
Willie reluctantly drew his sword and cut off the horse’s head.
And when he placed the head near the tail and prayed three times, what he had thought was the horse’s corpse suddenly transformed into a noble young Prince.
He was the Princess’s brother.
The Prince had been under a spell and turned into a horse for a long time.

The two of them rejoiced greatly, took each other's hands, and entered the palace.
The Princess’s joy was beyond compare.

Joyous and lively, the royal wedding celebration continued for two weeks.
King Willie, the Queen, and the Prince, her brother, lived happily together forever and ever.