Kenji Miyazawa

“ What do you think I should do?”
“All right, in this case, I think you should give this judgement: declare that the dumbest, weakest, absolutely worst acorn is the best. I heard that once in a sermon.” ”

“ There is no doubt a robber in Robber Forest. I saw at dawn, by the light of the sky in the east and the glow of the moon in the west, the crime take place. But you may all go home. I will make sure your millet is returned. Don’t worry. Robber Forest just wants to try making its own awamochi and couldn’t help itself. That’s why he stole the millet. ”

“ Looking into the room, they saw a black stand next to the door.
“That makes sense. Bringing guns in with you when you eat is bad manners.”
“They must have a lot of important people come.”
They unstrapped their guns, took off their ammo belts, and put them on the stand. The room ended in a black door with more words written on it, “Please leave your hats, jackets, and shoes here.”
“What do you think? Should we just leave our stuff here?”
“What else can we do? Really important people must come here.” ”

“ Ichiro bowed down and asked, “Mushrooms, did Wildcat pass by here?”
The mushrooms replied, “Wildcat? This morning he flew by here in his carriage. He was headed south.”
“South, that's towards the mountains. Weird. I guess I can go a little further, though. Thank you, mushrooms.”
The mushrooms quickly returned to their strange song.
Ichiro went a little further, and saw a walnut tree, with a squirrel jumping around its top. Ichiro quickly waved to it and called, “Hey, squirrel, did Wildcat pass by here?”
“Wildcat you say? He flew by in his carriage this morning, before the sun was even up. ”

“ Some whispering came from behind the door, “We’re done for. They figure us out. And they didn’t even salt themselves.”
“Of course not. The boss is a terrible writer. ‘Our sincerest apologies for the many orders.’ That’s just dumb.” ”

“ As the carriage sped on, the acorns' shine slowly dimmed, and by the time the carriage stopped, the acorns were plain brown acorns. Wildcat’s yellow vest, the servant, and the mushroom carriage had all disappeared. Ichiro was by himself, in front of his house, holding his box of acorns.
Never again did Ichiro get a note from Wildcat. From time to time he thought, “Maybe I should have let him write ‘We humbly request your presence.’”
This work is a translation and has a separate copyright status to the applicable copyright protections of the original content. ”

“ Everyone grabbed their weapons and went to the nearest forest, Wolf Forest.
Nine wolves came out of the forest, and seeing everyone, gave a quick snort, “We’re getting awamochi today, too. We don’t have your millet. No, no, absolutely not. Once you’ve looked everywhere else, you can come back.
Everyone thought the wolves were telling the truth, so they moved on to Basket Forest. ”

“ The women, whose faces had returned to their normal color, and children had been standing silently until now, began to dance about. Some of the children, unable to contain themselves, started to roughhouse, and their mothers grabbed them and hugged them tight. ”

“ Anyways, do you think he’ll share the bones with us?”
“Probably, but if those two don’t come in here, it will be our fault.”
“Should we call out to them. I’m going to call out to them. Hello good sirs. Come in quickly. ”

“ Four farmers, wearing jackets made of straw and carrying axes, rakes, and hoes -- weapons of the mountains and plains -- tied tight across their backs, climbed over the flint mountains to the east and lumbered into the little plain surrounded by forests. ”