Asia Folklore Tales of The Beautiful Moon Maiden : Bilingual edition

There was an old bamboo cutter called Take Tori. He was an honest old man, very poor and hard-working, and he lived with his good old wife in a cottage on the hills. Children they had none, and little comfort in their old age, poor souls.Take Tori rose early upon a summer morning, and went forth to cut bamboos as was his wont, for he sold them for a fair price in the town, and thus he gained his humble living.Up the steep hillside he went, and came to the bamboo grove quite wearied out. He took his blue tenegui and wiped his forehead, "e;Alack for my old bones!"e; he said. "e;I am not so young as I once was, nor the good wife either, and there's no chick nor child to help us in our old age, more's the pity."e; He sighed as he got to work, poor Take Tori.Soon he saw a bright light shining among the green stems of the bamboos."e;What is this?"e; said Take Tori, for as a rule it was dim and shady enough in the bamboo grove. "e;Is it the sun?"e; said Take Tori. "e;No, that cannot well be, for it comes from the ground."e; Very soon he pushed his way through the bamboo stems to see what the bright light came from. Sure enough it came from the root of a great big green bamboo. Take Tori took his axe and cut down the great big green bamboo, and there was a fine shining green jewel, the size of his two fists."e;Wonder of wonders!"e; cried Take Tori. "e;Wonder of wonders! For five-and-thirty years I've cut bamboo. This is the very first time I've found a great big green jewel at the root of one of them."e; With that he takes up the jewel in his hands, and as soon as he does that, it bursts in two with a loud noise, if you'll believe it, and out of it came a young person and stood on Take Tori's hand.You must understand the young person was small but very beautiful. She was dressed all in green silk.Habia un viejo cortador de bambu llamado Take Tori. El era un buen hombre viejo, muy pobre y trabajadora, y vivia con su vieja y buena esposa en una casa de campo en las colinas. Los ninos no tenian ninguno, y poco de consuelo en su vejez, pobres almas.Take Tori se levanto despues de una manana de verano, y salieron a cortar el bambu como era su costumbre, para el los vendia por un precio justo en la ciudad, y asi gano su humilde vida.Hasta la empinada ladera de la montana que se fue, y llego a la arboleda de bambu bastante fatigado. El tomo su azul tenegui y limpio su frente, "e;Alack para mis viejos huesos!"e; el dijo. "e;Yo no soy tan joven como yo era, ni de la buena esposa, y no hay pollo ni al nino para que nos ayuden en nuestra vejez, mas de la piedad"e;. El suspiro como se puso manos a la obra, buenos Take Tori.Pronto vio una luz brillante que brilla entre los tallos verdes de los bambues."e; Que es esto?"e;, dijo Take Tori, como regla era oscura y sombria suficiente en el bosque de bambu. "e;Es el sol?"e;, dijo Take Tori. "e;No, eso no puede ser, porque viene de la tierra"e;. Muy pronto empujo su camino a traves de los tallos de bambu para ver lo que la luz vino. Por supuesto que venia de la raiz de una gran bambu verde. Take Tori tomo su hacha y corto el gran verde de bambu, y no fue una brillante joya verde, el tamano de sus dos punos."e;Maravilla de las maravillas!"e;, grito Take Tori. "e;Maravilla de las maravillas! Para los cinco y los treinta anos que he cortar de bambu. Esta es la primera vez que he encontrado un gran joya verde en la raiz de uno de ellos."e; Con que el toma la joya en sus manos, y tan pronto como lo hace, se rompe en dos con un ruido fuerte, si vas a creer, y de ella salio una persona joven y se puso en Take Tori mano.Usted debe entender que el joven era pequena pero muy hermosa. Ella estaba todo vestid...