The old man did as she said. The cloth fetched a fortune, and the couple’s worries melted away.
But temptation gnawed at them. One night, after the girl had shut herself in the weaving room, the old woman could resist no longer. She crept to the sliding door, made a small hole in the paper screen, and peeked inside. tsuru no ongaeshi story
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. The old man did as she said
She stepped outside into the snow. As they watched, she spread her arms and became a crane again—pale, beautiful, but wounded. With a sorrowful cry, she rose into the dawn sky and flew toward the mountains, disappearing over the white peaks. One night, after the girl had shut herself
At that moment, the crane turned and saw the old woman’s eye at the hole. A single tear rolled down its beak.
But the girl was not finished. She wove again, producing an even more magnificent fabric—embroidered with cranes flying across a silver sky. It sold for an even greater sum.