Hukumusume fairy tale collection > Foreign language (English) > Short stories of Edo

イラスト　myi　　　ブログ　sorairoiro

A Bride Copied A Cat

(Short stories of Edo)

Translation　ちいさな翻訳屋さん

Make Origami ( ORIGAMI CLUB) Cat　　　Cat Face

Japanese　←→　Japanese ＆ English　←→　English

　Once upon a time, there was a very honest girl in a village in a mountain.


　One day, a bearer from a neighboring village came to the girl.

“I want this girl to marry me,”

he said.

　The girl’s mother thought,

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity we can’t miss.”

　She called her daughter at once and said,

“Look.

　For a while after you marry into his family, stay calm like a cat which just came to a new house.”

“OK. I’ll act like a cat.”

　When the girl looked around the kitchen, a calico cat which their family had just gotten from someone was dozing off on the cover of the furnace.

　Before long, the girl got married and started living in her husband’s house.

　On the next day of the marriage,

　the girl who got up the earliest out of everybody put a fire into the furnace to cook rice.

　Meanwhile, she thought,

“Oh, yes. I have to act like a cat.”

　She went up to the cover of the furnace and sat on it.

　Then her mother-in-law came to the kitchen.

“You could’ve slept more,”

she said with her sleepy eyes.

　She was surprised to find her daughter-in-law sitting on the cover of the furnace.

　She asked, “Holy cow! What are you doing up there?”

　Then her mother-in-law stroked her face with her hand and mimicked a cat.

“Meow, meow, meow,”

　she prettily replied to her mother-in-law, but she was kicked out of the house within the day because she was thought to be creepy.

The end

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