Tsuru No Ongaeshi Story Site

What she saw made her gasp.

The old couple never saw her again. They kept the last piece of cloth she had woven as a treasure, but more than the riches, they mourned the loss of their dear, grateful daughter. And they never broke a promise again. tsuru no ongaeshi story

The old woman cried out and fell back. The old man rushed in, but it was too late. The crane transformed back into the girl one last time. She looked at them with sad, gentle eyes. What she saw made her gasp

The old man did as she said. The cloth fetched a fortune, and the couple’s worries melted away. And they never broke a promise again

Long ago, in a snowy, mountainous village in Japan, there lived a poor but kind-hearted old man and his wife. One winter evening, as the man was walking home through the heavy snow, he heard a faint, desperate cry. Following the sound, he found a beautiful white crane trapped in a hunter’s snare. Its wings were tangled, and it struggled helplessly.

There was no girl. In the lamplight stood a slender white crane, plucking its own feathers and weaving them into the loom. The beautiful cloth was made from its own body. The crane’s legs were bare and bleeding; its once-glorious wings were thinning and raw. It was the same crane her husband had saved.