Altho' it is the coldest time of the year up here in Saitama, down in Okinawa, it was warm, and the animals were out. Well, others I was with may not have seen them, but they weren't looking. I saw the egret, mallard, kawasemi, hakusekirei, pigeon, turtles, crabs, of course butterfly, crow, and sparrow. And at one pond, I saw milling around a lone egret were a group of cormorants!
I still remember the ones that came to the park at Iwatsuki from a river nearby.
Birds are much smarter than people give them credit for. At least one cormorant is smarter than many people realize. Over time, I got to be friends with it, and when I wrote a story about a cormorant, he liked it so much, he first brought another friend to hear it, and I couldn't believe it when he actually came back another day with two friends too! The below is the story. And here is its Japanese explanation.
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KOREE THE CORMORANT
A poor man finds a seriously injured cormorant, carries it home, and nurses its wounds; caring for it inside the home, treating it as a family member.
“I will call you ‘Koree the Cormorant’;” says the man; “live, Koree.” And he does. The bird of course attaches itself to the family and wants to repay the kindness shown it.
When the father
goes fishing, the bird dives for fish, refusing to swallow larger catch—he has
seen his own parent doing this—eating only the smaller ones. At first, the
father doesn’t know why the cormorant keeps coming up to the side of the boat
and calling to him to pull fish out of his throat. Then he realizes the bird is
bringing him the large ones!
At the end of
the day, he goes home, showing the family the plentiful catch. “And you will
have a good meal tonight,” he tells them, patting the bird on the head; “Our
newest family member has made certain of that.” The son, altho’ weak-minded,
looks at the catch and understands. He turns his eyes on Koree and hugs him
simply, gratefully, warmly.
Everyone goes
to sleep that night, comfortable and happy with stomachs full of the fish the
bird brought. And…does it need to be said? The son always asks to sleep facing
Koree. They are like brothers. Nothing could make his parents happier.
To help the
family living, the boy cleans the rich tax collector’s lake. Altho’ at first he
doesn’t want to go, the family is told they can pay less taxes if the son will
work for him, so he does.
Even then, the
family finds it difficult to make ends meet. One day when the family is in dire
straits, the father goes out on the lake from early in the morning with the
cormorant, asking for many large fish; “They are very necessary;” he almost
begs, “can you work extra hard for this poor fisherman today?” Man and bird
come home late that night with 10 times the usual amount.
With such a
large catch, the man is able to get a good amount at the market and pay off his
taxes. The family makes many such payments with “10 times catch” days. The tax
collector can’t figure out how such a poor man can pay so much.
One day, the
tax collector decides to talk to the son cleaning the lake—maybe he will tell
him! It doesn’t take very long. The son, of pure thought as he is of large
heart, has no idea what the tax collector might be thinking. It is the
cormorant, he tells him, who catches the many fish sold at the market, and the
money pays the taxes.
Well, the tax
collector goes to the landlord right away, telling him to declare a “no pets
allowed” regulation. Then, saying since he has a lake where a cormorant can
swim, he can keep it himself, and takes the cormorant away. (Of course, he is
thinking he can make the bird fish for himself; sell the fish at the market;
and get even richer.
Well, when the
cormorant is parted from his family, he decides to eat all the large fish in
the tax collector’s lake! (He leaves the small fish, of no value) The tax
collector, who sees what is happening, is beside himself, while the poor man’s
son watches and laughes with glee.
He can’t do his
work right, he is too busy watching Koree dive and eat the big fish. Even when
the tax collector walks up next to him, the boy won’t stop cheering for Koree.
“Go! Koree! Get
‘Em! That’s it!” even when the rich man slaps him on top of the head, he can’t
take his eyes off his brother bird. All the fish in the lake are panicking now,
some leaping out of the water. The tax collector can’t hide the dismay from his
eyes.
“T-Take your
cormorant back!” the tax collector screams and storms off the bamboo landing.
“Really? Koree!
Come!” And the cormorant obediently follows him home, to the poor man’s house,
of course. And once at that lake, he
doesn’t touch the larger fish, only the little ones.
With Koree back, the family is able to have full stomachs at mealtimes, can pay their taxes, and the boy has a brother to face when sleeping again. Nothing could make his parents happier.
END
The below translation-explanation is very summarized and a little different, but...
カワウのコーリ
むかし、中国。貧しい漁師が浜辺でケガをしているカワウを見つけて家で息子と一緒に手当てしました。恩返しとして、鳥は鵜飼をすることにしたため、その日から貧しい親子は毎晩おなかいっぱいで寝ることができました。コーリと名付けられた鳥は息子と兄弟のように仲良くなりました。
ある日、近くに役人が引っ越して来て、自分も鵜飼をしようとカワウを取り上げてしまいます。鳥は鵜飼をせず、魚を食べてしまうので、役人はたまらず、コーリを前の家に帰します。
ということで、あの親子はまた、満腹で寝ることができて、コーリ兄弟もまた、一緒になりました。
おしまい
