One-Inch Fellow (一寸法師) (1)

One-Inch Fellow (一寸法師)　(1)

Once upon a time there lived an old man and an old woman in the village of Naniwa, which is the present city of Osaka.
※
Naniwa, which is the present city of Osaka：
なにわ、今の大阪にあたるところ

They were a happy couple, except for one thing.
They had no child to cheer their lonely old age.

One afternoon they went to the temple and prayed:
" Please, god of mercy, give us a childーany child, even if it be as small as a thumb. "



On a summer evening after this, as the old couple were looking up at a beautiful moon, they saw something strange, like a  spot of darkness coming at them from the moon.

It came nearer and nearer, and soon seemed to them like a purple croud.

The cloud floated into the room where the old man and old woman were sitting.

It twirled and untwirled itself, and quickly wafted away again.

The old couple watched in silent wonder and then with great joy, for the purple cloud had left behind it a tiny boy as small as a thumb.

This gift was received as a miracle by the grateful couple.

They soon discovered that the little fellow did not grow bigger as babies do, but they continued to be grateful and to care lovingly for the tiny boy.

He remained as small as a thumb, so the old couple named him " One-Inch Fellow " .   

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