Maung Tig Thun - The Grateful Crane and Other Stories

Once upon a time, there was an honest and kind-hearted man. His name was Euro. He lived in a small village in the forest and made a living by cutting wood in the forest.

It was a very cold winter day. There was a thick layer of snow on the ground. At that time, Euro was returning home from cutting wood in the forest. It was late in the evening, and he was carrying a large bundle of firewood on his shoulders and walking quickly across the snow.

Then he saw something black on the snow. But it was a living creature. It was moving and chirping. Euro stopped going any further, and lowered the bundle of firewood from his shoulder and approached the chirping creature, wondering what it was. Then he saw that the chirping creature in the snow was a crane. A crane is a beautiful bird with long legs. When the crane saw Euro approaching him, he tried to fly away. However, one of his wings was injured and he could not fly.

"What a pity, come... come... let me help you. If you stay in the snow like this, you will die," Euro said to the crane.

The crane stopped trying to fly and just lay still. Euro gently picked up the crane. Then, stroking the crane's feathers, he picked it up and brought it to his house.

Euro is a compassionate person. He has a kind heart. He feels sorry for the little crane. So he takes care of the little crane until it heals and gets better.

Soon the little crane recovered from its injuries and was fine. Euro was very happy. He gently picked up the little crane and sent it flying to its home. The little crane flew happily into the sky.

One night, a knock came from the door. When he opened it, he saw a woman standing in the snow outside. The light from the lantern that Euro was holding made him realize that the woman was a beautiful woman. The woman was shivering from the cold. Euro looked at the woman in surprise.

"I'm lost in the snow. Please let me stay at your house for the night," the little girl begged Euro in a gentle voice.

And then the euro immediately -

"Oh... okay, okay. Come inside quickly. Come inside quickly. It's snowing outside," he invited warmly.

Then, Euro made a fire with wood. He brought the woman a bowl of rice and hot soup to eat. The woman's name was Ossu. Ossu was kind-hearted and compassionate, just like Euro. The next day, a snowstorm hit, and Ossu stayed at Euro's house. Euro fell in love with Ossu. Ossu also fell in love with Euro, who had a kind heart. Thus, the two of them became husband and wife.

Euro is a woodcutter who earns a living and has little money. Therefore, the two of them are barely able to eat. However, they are both happy and kind and live happily.

The night before the wedding, the two of them were sitting together, resting as usual. Otsu noticed that Yuru was speechless and his heart was heavy.

Therefore, Osu told her husband -

"What are you worried about, Euro? Tell me," he said.

Then the euro -

“Okay, if you want to know, my dear sister, I’ll tell you. It’s almost the eve of the festival. But we don’t have any money, so we can’t prepare anything for the table. We don’t even have enough money to buy food. It would be great if we could earn a little money now,” he said.

After listening quietly to her husband, Uru, she said:

"Yuro...don't worry about this. I weave cloth. I will weave a shirt for you. If you sell the cloth at the market, you will get some money. But you must not look into the room where I weave. You must promise me this."

Euro also promised not to peek while Otsu was weaving in the room.

Otsu entered the room and began weaving the cloth.

For a long time, Otsu was still weaving in the room. Euro was tired of waiting. But he waited patiently. Finally, Otsu came out of the room with a beautiful piece of cloth in his hand. The cloth was very beautiful. Euro had never seen such a beautiful piece of cloth in his life. The next morning, Euro went to the city market and sold the cloth that Otsu had woven. He made a lot of money. He had never made so much money in his life and was very excited. He bought the things he needed with the money. He happily bought the things and soon his money ran out. He returned home with his things in his arms. When he got home, his wife urged Otsu to weave another piece of cloth. Otsu did as Euro asked.

Euro became more and more greedy. He asked Ossu to weave the cloth again and again. However, Ossu was tired of weaving and gradually became thin, but Euro did not notice that Ossu loved Euro so much that he wove new cloths for Euro.

One day, Euro asked Ossu to weave cloth again. Ossu, as he always said, warned Euro again, "Don't break the promise I made to you when I weave for you. It is especially important that you don't look into the room where I am weaving."

Euro also promised not to break his promise. With that, Otsu went into his room and began to weave. Otsu did not come out of his room for a long time. However, he could hear the sound of weaving. Euro was getting tired of waiting. He wanted to look into the room. Otsu asked him why he could not look into the room. What did he mean? “My wife Otsu will not be angry with me just by looking into the room for a moment,” he thought. Finally, unable to resist the urge to look, he went to the door of the room where Otsu was weaving and peeked into the room. However, Otsu was not there. Instead, he saw a very small crane. To his surprise, the crane was plucking feathers from its body with its beak and weaving.

Euro remembered that the crane was the one Euro had saved once. Then Euro backed away from the door and turned back. He was very worried. Now Euro had learned the truth about Otsu. He couldn't think of what to do.

Soon the sound of weaving stopped and Otsu walked out of the room, holding two pieces of cloth in her hands.

Then the Austrian said sadly to the Euro -

"You have broken your promise to me. Now you know that I am a crane bird, right? So it is impossible for me to stay here for long. Take these two pieces of cloth, sell one and keep the other. It is a souvenir for you," he said.

Hearing Osu's words, Euro immediately

"Osu...don't leave me. I'm sorry. How can I live alone without you? I love you so much," he apologized heartily. However, Osu smiled faintly and shook his head. Then he said to Euro -

“Yoror, I came here to repay your kindness. But it was because of your kindness and love that I stayed with you. I loved you. But since I made you cloth and earned money from selling it, your heart has changed and you have become greedy. Your heart has become soft and hard. So I must go. I bid you farewell.”

Then the Euro...

"Don't go, Osu. Don't leave me alone. Don't let anyone tell your secrets. And don't ever make me weave cloth again. Don't go," she pleaded, crying.

Otsu smiled sheepishly, waved to Euro, and walked out of the house.

When he got outside, Osu immediately transformed into a crane, spread his beautiful wings, and flew into the sky.

Euro watched the crane fly away with a sad expression. The crane slowly rose into the sky until Euro could no longer see it.

At that moment, only the sound of Euro's "Osu... Osu" echoed in the surroundings.

| TAKASHI SHIMAOKA of Princess Moonlight And Other Stories, Tale From Japan osspdg The Greateful Crane.]