Momotaro, the Peach Boy (Campfire Story)

Once upon a time in Japan, an old man and an old woman lived beside a river. They were kind and hardworking, but they had one great sadness: they had never had any children.

One morning, the old woman was washing clothes in the river when she saw something floating toward her. It was a peach. The biggest peach she had ever seen, as big as a washtub, bobbing along in the water. She pulled it out and carried it home, huffing and puffing, and set it on the kitchen table.

'What a peach!' said the old man. 'Let's eat it for dinner.' He picked up a knife. But before he could cut it, the peach split open all by itself, and out hopped a baby boy!

'Don't be afraid,' said the baby. 'Heaven saw how much you wanted a child, and sent me to you.' The old couple cried with joy. They named him MOMOTARO, which means Peach Boy.

MOMOTARO grew up big and strong and good. And when he was fifteen, he came to his parents with a serious face. 'Across the sea is Onigashima, Demon Island. The ONI who live there come to our villages and steal our rice and our treasure. Someone has to stop them. I'm going.'

His parents were worried. But they were proud, too. His mother made him a bag of kibi dango, little millet dumplings, the most delicious in all Japan. And off MOMOTARO went.

He hadn't gone far when a DOG came running up. 'Momotaro! Where are you going?' 'To Demon Island, to fight the ONI.' 'What's in the bag?' 'The best dumplings in Japan.' 'Give me one,' said the DOG, 'and I'll come with you.' So Momotaro gave him a dumpling, and the DOG came along.

A little farther on, a MONKEY swung down from a tree. 'Momotaro! Where are you going?' 'To Demon Island.' 'Give me a dumpling,' said the MONKEY, 'and I'll come too.' So now there were three.

And farther still, a PHEASANT swooped down from the sky. 'Momotaro! Give me a dumpling, and I'll come too!' So now there were four: MOMOTARO, the DOG, the MONKEY and the PHEASANT.

The trouble was, the DOG and the MONKEY did not get along. They bickered the whole way to the sea. 'Stop that,' said Momotaro. 'We can't beat the ONI if we fight each other. Each of you is good at something different. That's why we need all of you.'

They sailed across the sea to Demon Island. The ONI's castle had huge iron gates, shut tight. But the PHEASANT flew right over the wall and pecked at the ONI's eyes. The MONKEY climbed over the wall and unlocked the gate from inside. The DOG charged in and bit the ONI on their big bare ankles. And MOMOTARO marched straight up to the biggest, scariest ONI of them all, the ogre king, and wrestled him to the ground.

'We give up!' cried the ogre king, with big tears rolling down his red face. 'We'll never steal again! Take back all the treasure!'

So MOMOTARO and his friends loaded the boat with gold and silver and rice and jewels, and sailed home, and gave everything back to the villagers it had been stolen from. And then he, his mother and father, the DOG, the MONKEY and the PHEASANT all sat down together for a great big dinner.

And for dessert? Dumplings, of course.

Storyteller tips: split the audience into three groups, one for each animal, and let them really ham it up. Afterward, ask: what was each animal good at, and how is that like a patrol? If you brought a snack, hand it out "Momotaro style": one each, for joining the team.