Yoshi San is a Japanese boy and O Kiku is his little sister. Their father, who is a rich man, lives in a Japanese city.
O Kiku is a very pretty little girl. Both she and Yoshi San have yellow skin, very black hair, and black eyes that seem to be set slantingly in their faces. O Kiku"s long hair is carefully done up and dressed with beautiful silken bows and long silver hairpins like her mother"s. Yoshi San"s hair is nearly all shaved off his little round head, like the Japanese dolls you have seen. When Yoshi San grows up to be a man, he will not have his head shaved, unless he becomes a priest in one of the Japanese temples.
Both children wear long silken robes with sashes around their bodies, high up under the arms. They have their pockets in their big flowing sleeves.
O Kiku and Yoshi San dress and look so much alike that at first it would not be easy for you to tell them apart, or to know them from any of their little playmates.
T h e s e c h i l d r e n d o n o t k n o w a n y t h i n g a b o u t Christmas or Santa Claus. New Year"s Day is their greatest holiday, when there is always much feasting and visiting, and every one receives many presents.
On the third day of March, O Kiku will be a very happy little girl. On that day she will receive a new doll and many other new toys.
But there will be something better than this. Her mother will open the store-room, which has been shut up for a year. She will take out a great many boxes in which are many, many dolls, some almost as large as O Kiku, and some very much smaller. There are nearly a hundred of these beautiful dolls- lady dolls, baby dolls, a doll king, and a doll queen.
O Kiku"s mother will also bring out doll-trunks, full of beautiful doll-clothes. Then, too, there are toy tea- pots, bowls, vases, and tiny tea-tables. O Kiku will dress the dolls and give them a feast. Of course she will have to eat the cakes and drink the tea for them.
All these lovely things once belonged to O Kiku"s mother, and some of them even belonged to O Kiku"s grandmother. When the day is over, the dolls will be all put away until the next "Feast of Dolls. "The best of Yoshi San"s holiday festivals is the"Feast of Flags, " which comes on the fifth day of the fifth month. Early on that morning, his father and his grandfather will stand with him by the high pole which is in front of the house. On the top of the pole Yoshi San will raise a big paper fish. This fish, which is hollow, puffs out as soon as the wind strikes it. The wind makes it flap its tail and fins, and tug on the line like a real fish on a hook. These paper fish are bright red and gold. Just think how beautiful the Japanese cities must look on the day of the "Feast of Flags ! "The paper fish looks like the carp, which is the strongest and boldest fish known in Japan. It swims against the current and leaps over waterfalls. The Japanese people are very happy and gay, and laugh a great deal. But they are also very brave, and they like other things that are brave. And so they are proud of this big, strong fish.
Yoshi San"s father tells him that, just as the carp is the strongest and bravest of all fish, so Yoshi San must be the strongest and bravest of all boys, and must be kind to the weak.
Then he gives Yoshi San some new toys, which he has long wanted to have. The store-room is again opened, and the toys that belonged to his father and grandfatherare given to Yoshi San to play with all day. There are toy soldiers, guns, swords, drums, flags, and everything else that is used in war.
Yoshi San and his little playmates have mock battles all day. When the day is over, the toys and flags are put back in the store-room for another year.
When kite time comes, Yoshi San and all Japanese boys are happy. Even the old men like to fly kites with the boys.
They have kites of all sizes and colours-in the form of birds, butterflies, fans, flowers, funny faces, and many other things. There are kites that make music as they rise in the air. There are kites with strings made sharp by glue mixed with pounded glass.
They can have real battles in the air with these kites. A boy will get his sharp kite-string right across another boy"s sharp kite-string. Then each tries to saw through the other"s until one or both kites fall to the ground. When only one kite falls, it belongs to the boy who cut the string.
But Japanese children do not spend all their time in playing games. They go to school also, and learn to read books that are much harder to read than your books. They are very fond of hero stories, of which there aremany in Japan. There are also many very pretty fairy stories.
"Taro and the Turtle " is one of these fairy stories. When you read it, you may think of the Japanese children playing with their pet turtles and watching their funny ways of walking.
But, in all their play, Japanese children never tease or hurt these poor, helpless pets. It is not often that anyone is unkind to animals in Japan.
About the Author.-The name of the author is not known.
About the Story.-See Japan on the map and find pictures of Japanese children. Tell how the two children were dressed and what they looked like. Why don"t the Japanese celebrate Christmas? Describe the Feast of Dolls and the Feast of Flags, and the sport of kite-flying.