Nihongo Work

Nihongo TalesEasy Japanese

Tsuru no Ongaeshi, The Crane Who Repaid a Kindness

54 sentences · 952 characters

How this story is made

The audio is read aloud by a native Japanese speaker, line by line. Every line is checked against the script before it goes up.

The pictures are made with AI and then checked one by one — any that get the story wrong are made again.

The English follows the Japanese line by line — tense included. Japanese stories move between past and present, so the English does too.

  1. Long, long ago, a poor young man lived in a certain place.

  2. The young man's name was Yohyo.

  3. One snowy day, Yohyo found a crane in the mountains.

  4. The crane was caught in a trap and suffering.

  5. Yohyo freed the crane from the trap.

  6. "You're safe now."

  7. The crane flew away into the sky.

  8. That night, someone came to visit Yohyo's house.

  9. A beautiful woman was standing there.

  10. "I've lost my way.

  11. Please let me stay the night."

  12. Yohyo let the woman into his house.

  13. The woman's name was Tsu.

  14. Tsu said to Yohyo,

  15. "I have no home to return to."

  16. Yohyo thought for a moment and said,

  17. "Then please stay here for a while."

  18. Tsu came to live in Yohyo's house.

  19. Tsu helped a lot with the cooking and the cleaning.

  20. Yohyo was happy being together with Tsu.

  21. After a while, the two of them became husband and wife.

  22. But their life was not an easy one.

  23. Tsu said to Yohyo,

  24. "I would like to weave on the loom.

  25. But while I am weaving, please never look."

  26. Yohyo promised.

  27. Tsu shut herself in the room and wove on the loom.

  28. Three days later, a beautiful cloth was finished.

  29. Yohyo sold the cloth in town.

  30. The cloth sold for a very high price.

  31. Yohyo and Tsu became rich.

  32. "Please weave more."

  33. Yohyo asked Tsu.

  34. Tsu shut herself in the room again.

  35. But Tsu's body gradually grew weaker.

  36. Yohyo couldn't stop worrying about Tsu.

  37. One day, Yohyo quietly peeked into the room.

  38. What was there was a single crane.

  39. The crane was pulling out its own feathers and turning them into thread.

  40. Yohyo was shocked.

  41. When the weaving was finished, Tsu came out.

  42. Tsu said sadly,

  43. "I am the crane.

  44. You saved me before."

  45. "Now that you have seen me, I can no longer stay here."

  46. Yohyo apologized.

  47. "Please don't go."

  48. Tsu said quietly,

  49. "I will never forget your kindness.

  50. Thank you for everything."

  51. Tsu transformed into a crane.

  52. The crane flew out the window into the sky.

  53. Yohyo kept looking up at the sky for a long time.

  54. The end.