The Gift of the Goddess Kannon

In ancient, ancient times, there lived a husband and wife in a small fishing village. They lived in harmony, but alas, they had no children. Every day, the wife would go to the temple to pray to the gods, pleading with them: "Grant us the joy of a child, even if just one!"

Finally, the gods took pity on them. The wife gave birth to a baby girl. She was kind and beautiful, but her parents soon noticed that her hair refused to grow. The parents were heartbroken: "Why have we angered the gods so? Why have they not spared our long-awaited daughter?" But there was nothing to be done. A child is a child, no matter what, and they loved her dearly.

Meanwhile, strange things began to happen in the village. The fishermen noticed that every day, at the same hour, a bright light would appear in the sea. It would shine for a while and then vanish, as if some unknown force was sending a signal.

The fishermen were desperate to know what lay beneath the waves, but they were too afraid to venture out. The girl's parents, too, marveled at the light, wondering where it came from.

One evening, as they sat at home, the wife said: "What if that light is meant for us? Perhaps the gods are sending us a sign, and this wondrous glow will save our daughter from her plight."

"Perhaps," agreed the husband. "We must go to the sea ourselves."

And so they did. The next day, the husband and wife boarded a boat and sailed to the spot where the light appeared.

They sailed for a long time, and it was already growing dark. Suddenly, a bright light burst forth, blinding them. They shielded their eyes, afraid they might go blind. When their eyes adjusted, they looked around in awe—the sea was shimmering with beauty!

"What is this wonder?" they exclaimed. "It must be magic!"

Looking closer, they saw that the light was coming from the very bottom of the sea. Fear gripped them—what secrets did the ocean depths hold? They pondered what to do next, and finally, the wife said:

"I will dive down. I must see what lies below. Perhaps I will find a cure for our daughter's affliction." She plunged into the sea and descended to the bottom. There, she saw a small statue of the goddess Kannon lying on the sand.

"Can it be?" the wife marveled. "Such a tiny statue, yet it emits such a bright light!"

She picked up the statue and was about to swim back up when suddenly everything went dark. A black shadow enveloped her—a giant stingray had appeared out of nowhere.

Above, the husband was beside himself with worry. "I should never have let her go alone," he thought. He grabbed a sword and dove down after her. He saw the monstrous stingray circling his wife as she fought desperately.

"Release my wife!" he shouted. "Tear me apart instead!"

The stingray heard the human voice, turned, and lunged at the husband. "Swim back to the surface!" he managed to cry to his wife.

He battled the stingray for a long time, finally plunging his sword into its belly and sinking it to the ocean floor. With his last strength, he dragged himself to shore, but as soon as he collapsed on the sand, his soul departed.

The fishermen found the wife in the sea, barely alive. They carried her to shore, where they saw she was clutching the statue of the goddess Kannon.

"Where did you get this?" they asked. "From the bottom of the sea?"

The woman whispered faintly: "I am dying, it seems. Give this statue to my daughter. May the goddess Kannon protect her."

With those words, she breathed her last and passed away. The fishermen buried the husband and wife by the sea and built a small shrine nearby, placing the statue of Kannon inside.

Life in the village went on as before, but the girl was now an orphan, with no one to comfort or care for her. Every morning, she would visit her parents' grave to pray to the goddess Kannon.

One night, the girl had a strange dream. She dreamed that the goddess Kannon herself entered her home, stood by her bedside, and said:

"I pity your departed parents, and I pity you. Let their sacrifice not be in vain."

With those words, she vanished.

The girl woke up and looked around, unsure if it had been a dream or reality. She glanced in the mirror and couldn't believe her eyes—overnight, her hair had grown to an unimaginable length, reaching down to her ankles!

She ran out of the house and rushed to the shore, to her parents' grave. "Thank you for saving me from my plight," she said.

She turned to the statue of the goddess Kannon, intending to bow, when it seemed to her that the statue smiled and nodded.

Many years passed. The girl grew into a stunning beauty, and people came from far and wide to see her. Every day, she would comb her magnificent hair, but she never threw away the strands that came loose on the comb—they were priceless, for they had been granted by the goddess Kannon herself. She would hang them on the branches of plum trees.

One day, far from the fishing village, a noble prince was strolling through his palace garden. He noticed a single strand of hair hanging from a tree. The prince was amazed:

"Where did this come from? Did the sparrows bring it?" He took the strand from the branch and exclaimed, "What a marvel! Could any earthly woman have such beautiful hair? Surely, this is the hair of a celestial fairy!"

"The girl with such hair must be extraordinarily beautiful," thought the prince, and his heart was filled with love for the unknown beauty.

He sent his servants to search every corner of his domain for the owner of this wondrous hair. After a long search, they finally found the poor girl from the fishing village and brought her to the prince's palace.

The prince and the girl met and instantly fell in love. The beauty became the prince's wife, and she bore him a son with the same miraculous hair. She lived a long and happy life, but she never forgot her parents or the gift of the goddess Kannon.

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The Gift of the Goddess Kannon

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