横浜こぼれ話は筆者の佐藤栄次が随筆や意見や考えを書いておりますので、一度見に来てください、

 

A lady KINU

Grateful Crane
Long long ago, there was a beautiful lady called ‘KINU(silk)’working in a village, which was famous for sericulture.
In spring many migrant workers came to this village.
She worked so hard that the family helped by her got good cocoons.
In fall when the silkworms no longer lived, they had to return their own villages.
Each family had a farewell party to thank them for their labor, serving delicious food.
Nobody knew where she came from and where she returned.
“She is very beautiful and hard-working, but she never talks about her background.”
wondered the family.

The day came when she left the village.
She left the village behind with many villagers seeing her off.
“Where will she go?”
wondered the family and followed her secretly.

Soon she suddenly disappeared near a lake and they happened to hear a white snake drop into the lake.
The next spring came but she never appeared in the village.
Instead, the family saw the white snake several times in the house.
The family thought;
The white snake must be her and protect our silkworms from the rats.”
They made a small doll in the shape of her and put it on a household Shinto altar in Spring and returned it in the lake in fall every year.

 

The end