Message from jwyss

[Anonymous]

Bodkin, Odds Stories of Love:The Crane Wife. Audio-CD.Compass Productions.
2000

Odds Bodkin is a great storyteller. His versions of The Odyssey and The Rage of Hercules, with some judicious editting, fit well into the sixth grade curriculum. His voice characterizations and accompanying Celtic harp make A Crane Wife, a folktale from Japan, a great mini-lesson for seventh grade social studies. A print edition of the story is also available.

In the tale Osamu is a sail-maker who lives alone by the sea. One dark and stormy night
(don't ya love that phrase) he hears a thump at his door and finds an injured crane. He heals it and soon it flies off to rejoin its flock. Some months later in the midst of another storm, he finds an injured maiden, Ukiko. As she recuperates they fall in love and become as if man and wife.

Despite his best efforts, the sail-maker cannot make a living for two. Ukiko volunteers to make a sail, but she must weave it alone and uninterrupted. She sets up a screen and begins working the shutttles. Though he wants to know what she is doing, Osamu keeps his promise. The sail is wondrous and seems to hold the wind in its warp and weft. Osamu sells the sail at the harbor for enough gold to last most of the year. All to soon more gold is needed, and , once again, Ukiko secludes herself to weave the sail and emerges more exhausted than before. The sail's sale brings even more gold , but it too will not last forever.

The news of Osamu's incredible sails spreads and a sea captain offers all the gold that Osamu will ever need for just one sail. Osamu initially refuses, but the thought of all that gold and no more worries tempts him and he agrees though Ukiko is sore afraid of the task ahead. Becoming angry, he orders her to make the sail and she complies. The task takes longer than before with day stretching into day. Osamu calls to her but receives no answer other than the sound of the shuttle moving back and forth. He wonders what she's doing, and then the thought strikes him that he too should know the secret of these magical sails. He jerks aside the screen and there is the crane he helped so long ago. Her body has been plucked and the feathers are streaming into the loom to be woven into the fabric of the sail. With a "Chrrr" the crane flees and flies off into the night. When the moon is obscured and the storm winds blow, Osamu sits by his door waiting in vain for the thump that will tell him he will no longer be alone.

The tale can be expanded in the lesson to include notions of love and trust, the crane's symbolism in Japanese culture-peace, longevity, and good fortune- and to talk about Cranes for Peace, a remembrance of Sadako Sasaki and the Hiroshima A-bomb attack. Sadako was two at the time of the bombing and died ten years later of leukemia. She attempted to fold a thousand cranes, senbazuru, for a Japanese legend says that this so pleases the gods that a crane will grant a wish for long life or the recovery from illness. Now children from all over the world send cranes to the A-bomb memorials hoping for peace.

You can find both CD and book at Bodkin's website:http://www.oddsbodkin.com/store/products_all.php or at Amazon.com