·
Takeuchi was disgraced, and he decided to take
his own life by jumping off of a cliff
·
As he was removing his swords, a fisher-maid
approached him ad pointed out a gleaming light in the sea
o
She had followed him as he wondered about before
going to the cliff
o
She loved the minister, but she knew that she
had no hope of marrying him because she wasn’t a princess
·
The reason he was disgraced: The Empress was furious
that the crystal was lost
·
The Jewel of Heart’s Desire was at the top of a
coral pagoda in the sea
·
The fisher-maid told him that she could retrieve
it
o
As she dove down and grabbed the magic crystal,
a sea-dragon crawled out of his lair
·
The other sea monsters, including sharks,
swordfish, and cuttlefish, hurried to his call
o
The dragon smiled at the fisher-maid
·
The fisher-maid knew that a dragon would not touch
a corpse, so she drove Takeuchi’s sword into her chest and placed the magic
crystal there
·
The dragon, upset that his plan had been foiled,
disappeared into deeper waters
·
The fisher-maid’s body eventually floated to the
top and Takeuchi found the jewel in her chest
·
She was honored in a manner similar to that of a
general, and the Empress declared her a princess
Tamatori and the Dragon. Source: Wikipedia.
Bibliography: This story can be found here. Story source: Romance of Old Japan, Part I: Mythology and Legend by E. W. Champney and F. Champney (1917).
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