Japanese
Long, long ago there lived an honest young farmer in a village, who was not so good-looking that he had no chance to marry yet.
One day a beautiful lady visited him and said to him,
"Would you marry me?" asked she seriously.
Of course he accepted her proposal and married her. As it was difficult for him to be separated from her now, he always came home as soon as possible even if he went working in a field.
The young wife, embarrassed, drew her own face on a paper and asked him,
"My Dear.Please go to work with this picture and remember me."
When he was working in the field with the picture put between branches of a tree, a sudden wind flew it up in the sky. He ran and ran after the picture,to his disappointment, only to lose sight of it.
On the other hand, a lord of the country found the picture in the garden of his castle and said to his men.
"I have never seen such a beautiful lady. I'd like to have her as my wife. Find and bring her to me."
She was at last found by them in a few days.
"Present your wife to my lord. It's the order of the lord." said one of his men.
"No, even if it's the order of the lord, I can never accept it. " said the young farmer.
"Such a beautiful lady is not suitable for you. Are you going to disobey us?"
They took her from him by force, when she whispered to him,
"I can't help going to the lord, but in Autumn please come to the castle to sell apples."
The young farmer had been crying for several days while the beautiful wife spoke nothing and never smiled in the castle. The lord tried to make her smile but in vain.
The farmer waited patiently for apples to become ripe in Autumn.
The time at last came when he went selling apples in the town. He walked along the street to the castle, singing a song and carrying baskets full of apples on his shoulder.
¢öI kiss a red apple under the blue sky. It knows nothing but I understand it. I love an apple and wish for our happiness.¢ö
Listening to the song, the young wife burst into smiling and cried, though she had never spoken after she came to the castle.
"Here comes an apple seller." said she, standing up.
The lord, looking at her, ordered to his men,
"She smiled at last. Bring the apple-seller to me at once."
The lord said to the young farmer taken in front of him.
"Sing the song once more in front of us."
He sang the song, dancing happily.
¢öI kiss a red apple under the blue sky. It knows nothing but I understand it. I love an apple and wish for our happiness.¢ö
The young wife, listening to and watching him, smiled more happily, which made the lord envy the farmer and said to him.
"Mr. Apple-seller. Change your clothes with mine."
The lord carrying the apple-baskets on his shoulder in farmer's clothes began to sing the song.
¢öI kiss a red apple under the blue sky. It knows nothing but I understand it. I love an apple and wish for our happiness. ¢ö
He was so happy to see his wife laughing at him happily. At last the lord got out of the castle.
When he returned to the gate of his castle after walking in the town, he was stopped by the guards of the gate.
"You, apple-seller, are not allowed to enter this castle."
"I am the lord of this castle."
"What nonsense! Get away, or you will be beaten."
The lord was severely hit by his men until at last they closed the gate.
After that nobody saw the lord in the town.
The young farmer became the lord and lived a happy and busy life with his beautiful wife.(99.03.20)
