creatively edited by, Sara
Once long ago in Japan there lived a poor
couple who wished they had a child of their very own. One day while the old
woman or Obaa-san was washing clothes in a stream their came an enormous
peach floating down. 
She spotted it, and took it home after her days work was
done. They were just about to slice it open when suddenly a voice said,
"Don't cut me!" and out jumped a baby boy. They were both so very
happy and overwhelmed of finally having their wish come true. They decided to
name him Momotaro which means, " peach boy".
One day a flyer came in from the
Hawaiian islands that they
would need workers from Japan to come and work in the
sugar cane fields. It said that Hawaii was sunny all year round, that they could
inherit a big load of money and that it was very beautiful over there. Momotaro,
with a image of what Hawaii looked like, with paved gold roads and beautiful
sites and 
also because they were not wealthy said that he
would go over and work for the plantation for three years. As said on his
contract just to get money for his family. The labor contract said that the
worker would be treated fairly , paid well, and be provided with good homes. His
parents grieved over his leaving and they were very worried and
depressed.
While Momotaro was there he found out how hard life was on the plantation and was put to work the next morning. Out on the fields he poisoned the weeds and had to carry more than 120 lbs of sugar cane on his back. He didn't like the work and wanted to go back to his home in Japan but they would not let him. What they promised him was not what they gave him. He lived in a pigsty like home and did not get paid as well as he was promised, He hated that life , over there but it was no different from his poverty like home in Japan.
His three years came and he asked if he could finally go back to his home? But they persuaded him to stay even though his three years were up because they still needed him to work. He thought that was very unfair.
Twenty years had come and gone and since he
was very lonely and depressed he wanted a companion. So he sent a picture of a new,
young Japanese immigrant, a handsome one at that as himself asking for a
bride. Just like all his other Japanese co- workers.
When
all of the picture brides came on one big ship, his bride, Yoriko Matsunaga was looking all over
for the man in the picture and she didn't see him. But when Momotaro saw her he
ran up to her and said "Anata wa, Matsunaga, Yoriko san desu ka?" And she said,
"Hai, soo desu," bowing."
"She said, Do you know this man?"
Momotaro replied, "that was the picture I sent you. You are marrying me."
She was outraged and started yelling at him for doing such a bad thing to her. But she knew that she would have to live with him anyway.
Her life was hard because Momotaro didn't have enough money to support both of them so she had to work on the fields so that she could make money too. Every day she went out into the fields and had to weed the sugar cane. She had to wash the clothes for the Filipino men as a side job and that was what she hated the most because she didn't like having to wash clothes for others, she had enough to do after a long days work. She thought, " I have feelings too". They had a tough time getting along at first because she was still mad at him for tricking her.
Then later on they had children and Yoriko had more things to tend to. She was so busy but Momotaro didn't care and one day Momotaro left her. So she had to get married again. And as for him he became a bachelor again and had to live like that for a long time with guilt and shame.
Once upon a time there was an old
bamboo cutter named Sanugi.
While he was going to work he saw a golden light coming from
the forest. He started walking toward it in curiosity to find out what it
was. When he got there he found a pile of glimmering golden coins and in the
center of the pile he saw a petite baby girl. He was astonished and took her
back to his cottage to show his wife. His wife was so surprised but took her
into her loving arms with the care as though she was already her daughter. 
She
named her Kaguya Hime because of her bright and smiling face. The gold
coins that Sanugi had found helped them get by through the years and they lived
in comfort, but what they thought was the real reward was Kaguya herself. She
was a very cheerful person and she was very beautiful and because of this she
became a legend. Her beauty was indescribable, but the sayings that always came
to mind was " she is as beautiful as the sun when it hits the
horizon." and " Her skin is as soft as the clouds and her hair is as
silky as the silkworms silk weaving its cocoon. Many men came to see her and they waited day and night out side
of the house of Sanugi. One day the weather started getting very harsh and the cold winds started coming harder and harder and only
three men remained. She met the handsome men one by one. The first one offered
to give her father a years supply of rice for her hand in marriage. She did not
see any love in his eyes for her heart but only for her beauty and she declined.
The second one told her father that he would give them 1,000 yen for her. But
she did not see any love in him either so she called in the next man. He was not
there and a messenger came and told them that he had gone to work in the sugar
plantation in Hawaii so he could provide good things for her. She was so curious
about him that she wanted to see him. So she snuck onto a boat with women going
over as picture brides. When they reached the dock she got off and ran, looking
for the face of which she pictured he would look like. Since the man that gave
her the message had also given her his identification number and shape she
looked for that too but it was still very hard to find him. Finally she asked a
luna if he knew where the Japanese camp was and that was a mistake. He put her
to work in the cane fields and while she was out in the burning hot sun, she saw
a man working very hard and he came over and asked her if she was the famous
Kaguya Hime. She said yes and he told her that he was the one that was working
so he could provide her the things she needed. She was very kind and saw that he
loved her for who she really was. They were wedded and worked in the plantation
until his three years was up and then they went back to Japan to live a stable
life together.