ONCE upon a time there was an old man and his old wife living in a village in Japan. The old man was a woodcutter. 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 some clothes. She was surprised to see a big peach floating down the river. It was a very big peach. She took it out and decided to bring it home for their supper.
When the old man came home, the old woman showed him the peach. The old man agreed that it was indeed a beautiful peach. They were about to open the peach in half with a knife when a voice came from inside the peach. "Wait! Don't cut me!" said the voice. Suddenly the peach split open, and a beautiful baby boy jumped out of the peach. The old man and woman were astonished. But the baby said: "Don't be afraid. The God of Heaven saw how lonely you were without any children, so he sent me to be your son." The old man and woman were very happy, and they raised him to be their son. They named him Momotaro, which means Peach Boy.
When Momotaro was older, he went to his father and told him him that he wanted to go to Ogre Island to fight the Ogres who lived there. Apparently, these ogres often go to their village and do bad things like carrying people away and stealing things.
Although the old man was a bit worried, he was also very proud of Momotaro for wanting to help other people. The old couple helped him prepare for the journey. The old man packed him a sword and armor, and the old woman gave him some dumplings. He promised his parents that he would come home soon and headed toward the sea. Along the way, he met a dog. The dog growled at Momotaro and was about to bite him, but Momotaro gave him one of his dumplings. When Momotaro told the dog his plan to go and fight the ogres, the dog said he'd go along & help Momotaro.
They kept on walking and soon came across a monkey. The dog and the monkey started to fight. Again, Momotaro explained their plans to the monkey and he, too, wanted to go with them. Momotaro agreed and gave him a dumpling.
Momotaro , the dog, and the monkey kept on walking. This time, they met a pheasant. The dog and the monkey and the pheasant were about to start fighting. But when the pheasant heard that Momotaro was going to fight the ogres on Ogre Island, he asked if he could go too. So Momotaro gave him a dumpling and told him to come along. Then they all became good friends. Finally, they reached the sea, got into a boat and sailed for Ogre Island. When they were near the island, they could see that the ogres had a very strong fort there. And there were many, many ogres.
First, the pheasant flew over the walls of the fort and began to peck at the ogres' heads. And while the ogres weren't looking, the monkey went up and opened the gate of the fort. Then Momotaro and the dog rushed into the fort and started fighting the ogres too.
It was a terrible battle! The pheasant pecked at the heads and eyes of the wicked ogres. And the monkey clawed at them. And the dog bit them. And Momotaro fought them with his sword. At last the ogres were defeated. They promised never to do wicked things again. Then they brought Momotaro all the treasure they had in the fort. There was much silver, gold & jewels. There was an invisible coat and hat, and a hammer that made a piece of gold every time you hit it on the ground, among other things. Momotaro and his three helpers carried all these in their boat back to the land.
The old man and woman were both overjoyed to see their son return safely from Ogre Island! Then they all lived together very, very, happily & peacefully.
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