The Unlucky Daydreamer
In the city of Osaka, there lived a poor widow who had a son named Torayan.She often scolded her son for being the most absent-minded person in the world, always getting into trouble. Dishes slipped from his hands. His purse would disappear on its own, without any help from a thief. Ropes would tangle around his feet, and rakes would hit him in the forehead. And if Torayan fell, it was always, as if on purpose, into the dirtiest puddle in the whole city.
At his mother's command, he roasted eels to sell. That was how he made a living.
One day, Torayan bought a big, fat eel, placed it on a cutting board, and was about to chop off its head with a knife when, as usual, he got distracted. The eel slid off the board, flicked its tail, and plopped into a ditch. Then it slithered into another, and from there into a third.
"Hey, where are you going? Wait, dear, hold on!"
Torayan ran after the eel. He almost caught it by the tail but tripped and let it go again. He kept running until he reached the edge of the city.
Torayan ran into a field where radishes were growing.
The owner of the field shouted:
"Hey, what are you doing running around on my land? You're trampling my vegetables!"
"'What, what'? I'm chasing a runaway eel, that's what! But I guess I won't catch it now. How am I supposed to go back home? Do you know how strict my mother is? Oh, I'm so unlucky, I wish I'd never been born! What am I going to do now?"
"Stop crying!" said the farmer. "Tears won't help you. If you're afraid to go home, stay with me. I'll take you on as a worker. You can help me harvest the radishes."
Torayan was delighted and got to work. Unfortunately, he came across a large radish with such a tough root that he couldn't pull it out. Torayan strained, planted his feet firmly, and pulled with all his might:
"Come on, one more try! It's moving, it's moving, it's coming!... Still stuck... Just wait, I'll yank you so hard that even if you were a tree, you'd be uprooted."
And he yanked the radish!
It popped out of the ground—*plop*! And Torayan was flung into the air as if flicked by a giant finger. He soared high, high up like an arrow shot from a bow, and *thud*! He landed near the house of a barrel maker on Cooper Street.
The barrel maker was stunned.
"Where did you come from? You really did fall from the sky."
"I was pulling a big radish out of the ground, and when I yanked with all my strength, it went *plop*!... And it sent me flying here," Torayan explained, rubbing his bruised back. "I can't go back to my farmer boss now—he'll laugh at me. And I can't go home, I'm afraid of my mother! What am I supposed to do now, poor me? Won't you take me in, master?"
"Well, well, that's quite a story!" the barrel maker exclaimed. "Alright, I could use a worker. You'll help me put hoops on barrels."
Torayan started fitting a bamboo hoop onto a barrel, but it seemed both his hands were left-handed from birth. He bent the hoop into a circle but couldn't hold it.
*Ping*! The hoop snapped and sent Torayan flying high, high up! *Thud*! He landed on the ground. He looked around to see where he was. It turned out to be the courtyard of an umbrella maker on Umbrella Street.
"Where did you come from, with a hammer in your hand?" the master asked in surprise. "What wind brought you here?"
"I was working for a barrel maker, fitting hoops onto barrels. One hoop snapped so hard it sent me flying into the sky... I'm too ashamed to show my face to the barrel maker now. Won't you take me in, master?"
"Alright, fine! Stretch paper over umbrellas—it's not hard work."
Torayan looked around. The courtyard was filled with umbrellas, colorful like jellyfish in the sea.
"Well, I think I've landed on my feet," Torayan thought. "I'll get to work."
He stretched paper over the largest umbrella and went to show it to the master. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a gust of wind blew in. He should have let go of the umbrella, but Torayan didn't think of it, and the wind carried him off, spinning him like a feather.
Torayan clung to the umbrella handle, his legs dangling in the air. He flew higher than any kite ever had.
Higher and higher the scatterbrain flew, until he found himself in the sky. Clouds were beneath his feet. He saw a tall, beautiful house standing on the clouds. Torayan shouted:
"Hey, is anyone home? Answer me!"
A strange-looking woman came out of the house in response to Torayan's call. Her eyes sparkled like lightning. Torayan even had to squint.
She said:
"How did you get here, human? This is the house of the Thunder Beings, and I am the Fiery Lightning."
Torayan's legs gave way. He barely managed to stammer:
"So, the umbrella carried me all the way to the sky? What's going to happen to me now? Have pity on me, give me shelter."
Just then, horned devils appeared, beating drums. These were the Thunder Beings. Torayan told them about his troubles.
"Alright, you can stay with us," the Thunder Beings said. "You'll help us. When we beat our drums—*goro-goro-goro-goro*—you pour water from a jug."
"I'll do my best."
The devils started beating their drums, Torayan poured water from the jug onto the earth, and the Fiery Lightning kept flashing her eyes.
Torayan looked down through the clouds at the earth:
"What a laugh, what fun work! Oh, what a riot!"
Torayan poured water from the jug, and chaos broke out below. People ran around like frightened ants, taking laundry off lines, opening umbrellas, and hiding wherever they could. Torayan got distracted, daydreaming, and stepped into a gap between the clouds.
Torayan tumbled head over heels from the sky. He grabbed onto the wing of a passing wild goose... The goose squawked in terror. Torayan let go—and *splash*! He landed right in the middle of Osaka Bay. Ripples spread across the water.
In an instant, Torayan found himself at the bottom of the sea.
There stood a palace of wondrous beauty, adorned with pearls.
"Oh, what's this? Could it be the palace of the Dragon King?"
Otohime, the beautiful daughter of the sea king, came out to Torayan and led him to her father.
The sea king greeted Torayan warmly.
"Where did you come from, guest? Did the waves carry you here, or did you fall from a ship?"
"No, I didn't fall from a ship—I fell from the sky."
And Torayan told the sea king everything that had happened to him.
The sea king burst out laughing. Even the fish laughed until they cried. The octopus clutched its sides.
"Well, you've certainly cheered us up, guest. Thank you."
A lavish feast was served.
The fish began to dance, the octopus to jump, and the sea maidens to sing.
Otohime said to the guest:
"Have you seen how beautiful our garden is? All the flowers of the year bloom here at once."
Torayan wanted to see the garden.
The lovely princess Otohime warned him:
"Be careful, guest. If something tasty falls from above, don't be tempted—it will bring trouble."
The sea king's garden was magnificent. Everything bloomed at once: spring cherries, summer irises, and autumn chrysanthemums.
Torayan strolled along the silver paths, looking around.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a piece of meat descended, looking tender and delicious. It dangled right in front of Torayan's nose. He forgot the sea princess's warning, caught the bait in his mouth, and screamed:
"Ow! Ouch! Something's stuck in my lip! Help!"
The meat was on a fishing hook! Torayan felt himself being pulled upward. When his head emerged from the water, the fishermen in the boat panicked:
"A monster! A monster! We've caught a sea monster!"
Torayan tearfully replied:
"I'm not a monster! I'm a human, just like you! Save me, help me!"
"He really does look human! What a marvel!"
The fishermen pulled Torayan out of the water and asked:
"Where did you come from? What's your family? Where do you live?"
"I live in Osaka, not far from here."
"Well, I'll be! We caught a local boy. Where won't our kind end up?"
They hoisted Torayan onto their shoulders and carried him home to face his strict mother.
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