A turtle lays eggs

A turtle lays eggs

Long long ago, there lived a very poor old man and his old wife in a village,
while there were a very rich old man and his old wife next to them.

Having a new year in a few days, the rich couple were very busy preparing for it;
making ‘Mochi rice ball’, cooking delicious dishes,
while the poor one had nothing even to eat.
The poor couple were sitting on the beach, at a loss what to do,
when a beautiful angel appeared from under the sea.
She said to them,
“What makes you so sad? How about coming to Ryugu, ‘The Dragon Castle’?”
“If you invite us the poor, I’ll be glad to go there.” said they, surprised.
On her clapping hands, three turtles appeared on the surface from under the sea.
Each of them rode on each turtle and went down toward Ryugu.
They had never seen such a beautiful palace.
They were beside themselves with joy and surprise,
spending several days watching dances,
listening to music and eating delicious dishes.
At last they remembered the life in the village.
A month later, the old wife said to her husband,
“It’s time to come home.”
They asked the angel,
“Dear Angel, I appreciate your kindness from the bottom of our heart.
It’s time we return the village on the ground.”
“I miss you, but if you do want, I’ll present you a turtle that lays eggs.” said the angel.
They returned their home with a small turtle.
They fed and took care of it carefully every day and, to their surprise,
a few days later it laid a round gold egg every night.
The rumor went to the rich couple immediately living next to them.
“I heard that you have a turtle which lays gold. Lend it to us this night.” said the rich man.
Though they refused to lend it, the rich man took it to his house by force.
But to his disappointment, the turtle didn’t lay any gold but ordinary excrement.
The rich man got so angry that he threw it to death against a big stone.
Hearing this, the poor couple brought the dead body home and buried it under an orange tree in the garden.
The tree grew and grew and in that autumn it had many oranges.
“What wonderful and beautiful fruits it has!”
When they peeled it to eat, they found several gold seeds in it.
They harvested hundreds of the gold oranges and lived a happy and rich life until they died.

The end