Wednesday, February 11, 2009

15. Three Strong Women: A Tall Tale from Japan


Title: Stamm, Claus. Three Strong Women: A Tall Tale from Japan. New York: Viking, c1962.
Summary: Forever-Mountain is a conceited wrestler on his way to the Emperor's championships. On the road, he sees Maru-me, a little round girl carrying a water bucket on her head. He decides to tickle her in the hope that he can carry the bucket home for her, but she catches his hand under her arm. No matter what he does, he can't get it out, and is dragged along behind her. He pleads for escape, but Maru-me says she wants to help him become truly strong. After all, if he can't escape from her, how strong can he be? Fearful of being a laughingstock among the other wrestlers, he agrees to live with her, her mother and her grandmother for 3 months, and let them train him. Each day he must wrestle with Grandmother for practice; when he and she stomp their feet, the villagers think it's thunder. When he reaches the Emperor's palace, Forever-Mountain terrifies all his opponents just by stomping his foot, and then simply carries each one out of the ring, where they cry like "fat babies". The tournament ends quickly, which pleases the peace-loving Emperor, who prefers to write poetry. The Emperor gives Forever-Mountain the prize money, but makes him promise never to wrestle again. He agrees, and returns to Maru-me, where he and she live happily as farmers. To this day, when villagers hear thunder, they say it is Forever-Mountain and Maru-me's Grandmother wrestling!
Cultural origins and how identified: The tale comes from Japan according to the book's colophon: "Folklore-Japan". No other information provided other than in the title.
Audience: This story is for children grades K-3 [ages 5-9] according to School Library Journal review; I think it would make a good family story time tale as well. This would be a fun tale to work into a classroom study unit on Japan, though it would work for a library program as well, especially one that included a little bit of cultural information.
Notes on adaptation for telling: I would definitely include some sound effects for Forever-Mountain and Grandmother's stomping feet, and would ask for audience participation.

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