Peach Boy

Lisa Bueno (0:00)

Okay, my friends, so today we are going to start a new series of stories from all over the world.

SPEAKER_2 (0:11)

I do a lot of stories because we live in the United States of America that are American stories or stories that you might hear in our culture.

Lisa Bueno (0:20)

But there's stories in every part of the world, every country, every city, every kind of area has their own stories, right? And so it's important that in order to know each other better, we know what stories come from what places and we can start to look for similarities and we can start to look for things that unite us. And we can also have a better understanding of the world if we understand the stories that come from those places.

So today, we're going to read a story from Japan.

SPEAKER_3 (0:52)

It's called Peach Boy.

Lisa Bueno (0:56)

And this particular story is an ancient story.

SPEAKER_2 (1:02)

It's been around for a very long time.

Lisa Bueno (1:05)

This particular story has been compiled by a woman named Florence Sakade. And the illustrations from this book are by Yoshisuke Kurosaki. And I want to recommend, my friends, I'm going to put the link for this book up on our Instagram.

I recommend that you grab your copy of this book if you don't already have it.

SPEAKER_4 (1:26)

If you do, go...

SPEAKER_2 (1:28)

Wait, if you do already have it, if you don't already have it, go and get it.

Lisa Bueno (1:34)

Because understanding traditional stories from different parts of the world is super important.

SPEAKER_4 (1:43)

And so, I can't wait to share it with you.

Lisa Bueno (1:45)

Today's story is read by Mommy.

Philip (1:47)

And...

Lisa Bueno (1:49)

Philip!

SPEAKER_6 (1:50)

Philip!

SPEAKER_4 (1:52)

You ready for your story? Yep.

Lisa Bueno (1:54)

Okay, let's go. Peach Boy.

Once upon a time there lived in Japan a kind old man and his wife. The old man was a woodcutter. He and his wife were very sad and lonely because they had no children.

One day the old man went into the mountains to cut firewood and the old woman went to the river to wash clothes. No sooner had the old woman begun her washing than she was very surprised to see a big peach floating down the river. It was the biggest peach she'd ever seen in all her life. She pulled the peach out of the river and decided to take it home and share it with the old man for their supper that night.

Philip (2:47)

I mean...

Lisa Bueno (2:49)

Yeah, that sounds delicious, right? Late in the afternoon, the old man came home and the old woman said to him, Oh, look at the wonderful peach I found for our supper.

SPEAKER_4 (3:02)

The old man said it was truly a beautiful peach.

Philip (3:06)

He was very hungry and said, Let's divide it and eat it right away. So, the old woman brought a big knife from the kitchen and got ready to cut the peach in half.

Lisa Bueno (3:21)

But just then, a human voice called out from inside the peach, Wait, don't cut me!

Philip (3:37)

What?

Lisa Bueno (3:38)

And suddenly, the peach split open, and a beautiful baby boy jumped out of the peach.

SPEAKER_2 (3:46)

The old man and woman were astounded.

Lisa Bueno (3:51)

But the baby said, Don't be afraid.

Philip (3:55)

The god of heaven saw how lonely you were without any children, so he sent me to be your son.

SPEAKER_6 (4:07)

I would be shocked.

Lisa Bueno (4:09)

The old man and woman were very happy, and they took the baby to be their son.

SPEAKER_3 (4:14)

And since he was born from a peach, they named him Momotaro, which means peach boy.

SPEAKER_2 (4:21)

They loved Momotaro very much and raised him to be a fine boy.

Lisa Bueno (4:26)

When Momotaro was 15 years old, he said to his mother and father, You have always been very kind to me.

Philip (4:35)

Now I am grown and I must do something to help our land. In a distant part of the sea is an island named Ogre Island. Many wicked ogres live there, and they often come here and do bad things, like carrying people away and stealing our things, so… Aw man! I am going to go to Ogre Island to fight them and bring back the treasures they have stolen.

Please let me do this!

Lisa Bueno (5:04)

Momotaro's mother and father were surprised to hear this, but they were also very proud of Momotaro for wanting to help other people.

So, they helped Momotaro get ready for his journey to Ogre Island. The old man gave him a sword and some armor.