The Dance Of The Forest Spirits: A Beautiful Japanese Fable

This Japanese fable about forest spirits tells us that, somewhere very far away, two men were born on the same day, at the same time. Both came from poor families.

And to everyone’s surprise, they were born with an identical physical abnormality: both had a very large bump on their foreheads.

According to the fable, Tse, one of the two men, had a particularly arrogant family. They felt better than others and loved to compete for the attention of others.

On the other hand, there was Yung, who had a humble and peace-loving family. All his relatives were loving and kind to each other. 

As a result of their arrogance, Tse’s family was deeply ashamed to see that their newest member of the family had a physical defect. They couldn’t believe that someone in their family had been born with such an ugly bump on their face. They tried to remove the bump, but all their efforts came to nothing.

Meanwhile, things were very different with Yung’s family. They believed that the child would need more love than the others. And so they raised him with love and attention. They taught him that he was important and not to be ashamed of the bump on his forehead.

And the two boys grew up…

While Tse was growing up he felt very unhappy. His family was ashamed of him and tried to hide him as much as possible. They covered his forehead with hats. Gradually, Tse became a bitter and unhappy person.

At the same time, Yung grew up like a normal child. The other kids joked about the bump, but he didn’t care. He even learned to joke about it himself and laugh with everyone else.

And gradually the other children stopped seeing Yung’s physical abnormality. Instead, they enjoyed his great sense of humor and his good friendship.

Yung grew up to be a cheerful and curious young man. He was also a daredevil and adventurous. Tse, on the other hand, hated other people. He was bitter and did not understand why he was so unlucky.

The forest spirits

One day Yung went to the forest, and before he knew it it was night. He decided to stay there and rest. It was getting late when he heard cheerful noises. Very carefully he approached a bonfire and through the bushes he saw what was going on.

There he saw a group of special creatures dancing around the fire. He noticed that they looked strange. It was a group of forest spirits. Yung was scared but the party looked so merry that he couldn’t resist the temptation. He came closer and closer and, right in front of the astonished forest spirits, he began to dance.

According to this Japanese fable, the spirits rejoiced at his enthusiasm. They danced with him until the sun rose again. They spent the night laughing and having fun, side by side.

When it came time for Yung to say goodbye, they wouldn’t let him go. And so they took the bump from his forehead. They held it and said, ” We keep your hump so that you will come one more time to dance with us .”

Little did they know that it was a great relief to Yung to be freed from this burden. And therefore had no interest in going back for the bump they had taken from him.

The interesting end of the Japanese fable

Yung returned to the village without the hump and everyone was shocked. He told them of the extraordinary events he had witnessed, but no one believed him.

Then Tse asked if he could borrow Yung’s clothes so he could pretend to be him. He was going to visit the ghosts so that they would remove the nasty bump on his forehead as well.

Tse went into the forest and heard the forest spirits in the early morning. He came closer and closer. But all he wanted was for the ghosts to remove his bump. Other than that, it didn’t matter to him.

That’s why he didn’t dance, and he didn’t partake in the revelry. The forest spirits tried to involve him in the festivities, but he kept withdrawing, angry and irritated.

When the sun rose, one of the ghosts came to Tse and placed the other bump on his forehead. He said, “ Here’s your bump. It’s time for you to go…and don’t bother coming back .” And that’s how, according to the old Japanese fable, Tse returned to the village with two humps.

From that moment on, everyone understood that joy and generosity attracts happiness. On the other hand, anger and selfishness only bring bad luck and loneliness.