The Lantern And The Fan

: The Book Of Nature Myths

In a Japanese village there once lived a man who had two sons. When the

sons were grown up, each brought home a wife from another village a long

distance away. The father was greatly pleased with his two

daughters-in-law, and for many months they all lived very happily

together.



At last the two young wives asked to go home to visit their friends.

Among the Japanese the sons and the sons' wives must always obey the

father, so the two wives said, "Father-in-law, it is a long, long time

since we have seen our friends. May we go to our old home and visit

them?" The father-in-law answered, "No." After many months they asked

again, and again he answered, "No." Once more they asked. The

father-in-law thought, "They care nothing for me, or they would not wish

to leave me, but I have a plan, and I can soon know whether they love

their father-in-law or not." Then he said to the older of the two wives,

"You may go if you wish, but you must never come back unless you bring

me fire wrapped in paper." To the younger he said, "You may go if you

wish, but you must never come back unless you bring me wind wrapped in

paper." The father-in-law thought, "Now I shall find out. If they care

for me, they will search the country through till they find paper that

will hold fire and wind."



The two young wives were so glad to visit their old friends that for

almost a month they forgot all about the gifts that they were to carry

to their father-in-law. At last, when it was time to go home, they were

greatly troubled about what they must carry with them, and they asked a

wise man where to find the strange things. "Paper that will hold fire

and wind!" he cried. "There is no such paper in Japan." The two women

asked one wise man after another, and every one declared, "There is no

such paper in Japan." What should they do? They feared they would never

see their home again. They were so sad that they left their friends and

wandered a long distance into the forest. Great tears fell from their

eyes.



"I do not let people cry in my woods," said a voice. "My trees do not

grow well in salt water."



The poor wives were so sorrowful that they forgot to be afraid, and the

older one said, "Can we help crying? Unless I can carry to my

father-in-law fire wrapped in paper, I can never go home." "And I,"

wailed the younger, "unless I can carry wind wrapped in paper, I can

never go home. None of the wise men ever heard of such things. What

shall we do?"



"It is easy enough to wrap fire in paper," answered the voice. "Here is

a piece of paper. Now watch." They watched, and the strangest thing in

all the world happened right before their eyes. There was no one to be

seen, but a piece of paper appeared on the ground and folded itself into

a Japanese lantern. "Now put a candle inside," said the voice, "and you

have paper holding fire. What more could you ask?"



Then the older woman was happy, but the younger was still sad. She saw

now that fire could be carried in paper, but surely no one could carry

wind. "O dear voice," she cried, "can any one carry wind in paper?"



"That is much easier than to carry fire," replied the voice, "for wind

does not burn holes. Watch."



They watched eagerly. Another piece of paper came all by itself and lay

on the ground between them. There was a picture on it of a tree covered

with white blossoms. Two women stood under the tree, gathering the

blossoms.



"The two women are yourselves," said the voice, "and the blossoms are

the gifts that the father-in-law will give you when you go home."



"But I cannot go home," the younger wailed, "for I cannot carry wind

wrapped in paper."



"Here is the paper, and there is always plenty of wind. Why not take

them?"



"Indeed, I do not know how," the younger woman answered sorrowfully.



"This way, of course," said the voice. Some long, light twigs flew to

the paper. It folded itself, over, under, together. It opened and

closed, and it waved itself before the tearful face of the younger

woman. "Does not the wind come to your face?" asked the voice, "and is

it not the fan that has brought it? The lantern carries fire wrapped in

paper, and the fan carries wind wrapped in paper."



Then, indeed, the two young women were happy, and when they came to the

home of their father-in-law, he was as glad as they. He gave them

beautiful gifts of gold and silver, and he said, "No one ever had such

marvels before as the lantern and the fan, but in my home there are two

more precious things than these, and they are my two dear daughters."