Forest
Legends
Ogres
By Tea Orsi
Ogres
Who’s afraid of ogres? Maybe everyone. But perhaps we
should get to know them better instead of being so quick to
judge. After all, these mountain-sized creatures may make
the earth shake when they walk, but they are actually
pretty nice deep down.
Ogres usually live in the woods, in big, smelly hidden caves.
Only a few of them build their own houses in places that
are very hard to find (they’re very secretive and don’t like
crowds).
They love to take mud baths and are always hungry. Their
favourite dish is a strange kind of soup that no one knows
the recipe to (maybe it’s better that way).
Come one, now that you know more about these
creatures, you’re at least a less scared, right? Great!
Now you can read Grandma’s notes about them!
They don’t like to wash with water. along with their
footsteps, you know they’re coming by their smell: a blend
of moss and really rotten mushrooms.
Ogres’ teeth aren’t small and pretty at all: they’re more like
long, sharp fangs. A lot of times they have cavities, too
(they certainly don’t ever brush their teeth!)
The Legend of Momotaro
Here’s a story from far, far away. The ogres in it are a
bit naughty, but they’ll soon learn their lesson. Will it
help make them kinder? To find out, you just have to
keep reading!
Once upon a time, there was an old couple that lived alone
because they had no children. We’ll call them
“grandparent”. One day, Grandpa went up the mountain to
cut the grass, which had grown too tall.
Left alone, Grandma went to the river to wash the dirty
laundry. When she got there, she saw a huge peach floating
on the water, so she reached out to grab it. Despite her age,
she was quite agile and managed to get the fruit. She
wanted to bring it home to share with her husband.
Once he had finished trimming the grass, Grandpa headed
home. What a surprise! The peach hat awaited was really
huge. Intrigued, he opened it.
The two peered in, then jumped at what they saw, amazed
and maybe a bit frightened. Inside was a child, who
immediately began to cry with hunger! Grandma and
Grandpa decided to raise him as if he were their own son
and, precisely because he was born from a giant peach,
they named him “Momotaro” (which means “peach boy”).
The years passed quickly and Momotaro grew more and
more, becoming a strong, robust and very generous young
man. boy”).
One day, Momotaro learned that the ogres who lived in the
forest of his island would often come and rob the poor
peasants. It was time for them to learn a lesson, and he was
going to teach it to them. His grandparents were terrified. It
sounded so dangerous.
But Momotaro didn’t listen to their pleas, which were quite
logical. Then Grandma made him some Kibi dango (delicious
millet cakes! Mmm!) and told him to be very careful.
Momotaro set out, and along the way, he ran into three
friends – a dog, a monkey and a bird – who offered to help
him in exchange for his Kibi dango. Momotaro happily
accepted. It was a good thing, too, because when they
reached the ogres, things got crazy! The pheasant attacked
the ogres from the ground, they monkey scratched them
and the dog bit them. The fighting lasted a long time.
Eventually, the ogres surrendered (thank goodness) and
promised they would never steal from anyone again.
Actually, they did more than that: they even gave the
peasants all their most precious jewels and treasures back.
From that day on, thanks to Momotaro, everyone lived in in
peace and harmony.
