Many of the stories in this book seem at the same time both familiar and strange.
Their authors valued family, duty, patience and heroism. They longed for children in their old age, and rejoiced when they saw cruelty and envy punished, wrongs righted, and kindness and bravery rewarded.
These ideas are recognized the world over.
What makes the stories different is partly the characters: the brave samurai, the evil wizards; the fantastical creatures – goblins, dragons, demons, fairies; the cunning talking animals – not only sparrows, badgers and rabbits, but crocodiles and jellyfish too.
You may feel you know what is coming when the hero is told not, under any circumstance, to open the box – or when the doting father takes a second wife, a wicked stepmother. There is even one tale where the new wife sends a servant to take the daughter into the woods and dispose of her (sound familiar?).
Though the ideas are tried and trusted, the journey is fresh and new.
Not only because the heroes ride on paper cranes or tortoises that swim under the sea – but because the destination may not be what you expect.
There is even more than one story where the wicked woman repents her evil ways and goes on to live a good and kind life.
