A Field of Flowers on a Handkerchief

The series of "Moonlight Fairy Tales by Naoko Yasuho" includes five classic works by the author, including "A Field of Flowers on a Handkerchief", "Until the Flowers and Beans are Cooked", "The Wind's Roller Skates", "The Secret of the Bunny's House", and "Guests at the Red Rose Inn".

The works have typical oriental colors and rich Japanese local flavor, and the essence of harmony between man and nature*** is infiltrated into the lines. The work is exquisite and timeless, warm and touching, light with the beauty of remote tranquility. The author's unique and softened brushstrokes render a faintly melancholic mood, with a misty, gauzy, dreamy color. The work uses the element of transcending time and space to connect the fantasy world with the real world, so that the reality sinks into the bottom of the ghostly fantasy, supporting the magnificent edifice of the fantasy world.

This series is translated by renowned children's author and theorist Peng Yi, and renowned translator Zhou Longmei, and the translation is precise, beautiful, and smooth. The exquisite illustrations are full of rich Japanese national flavor, complementing the text with great charm.

A Field of Flowers on a Handkerchief tells the story of a handkerchief that can make chrysanthemum wine. A postman named Yoshio is entrusted by the grandmother of the Kikuya Hotel to keep the sake pot for her.

By singing softly, "Come out, come out, little people who make chrysanthemum wine," five little people will come out of the jug and make chrysanthemum wine on a handkerchief. Before she left, the grandmother told Liangfu to remember two things: first, no one should see the brewing of chrysanthemum wine. The second was not to think about making money with chrysanthemum wine. As time goes by, Ryao's greed grows and he forgets his original promise, and then something incredible happens. ......

Author's Profile

Naoko Yasuho (1943-1993), a graduate of the Kokusai Bunka Department of Japan Women's University, is a famous Japanese children's literature writer and master of fairy tales. Although she died young, her works have been widely circulated. 1969, she published her famous work "Pepper Doll", won the third Japan Children's Literature Association Newcomer's Award, and embarked on the road of literary creation from then on. His works are beautiful and timeless, and his imagination is strange. His major works include "The Enchanted Tongue," "Song of the Wind and the Trees," "Flower Field on a Handkerchief," "The Forest of the White Cockatoo," "The Silver Peacock," "The Hat Shop on Lilac Street," "The Story of the Dusky Sea," "The Deer in the Sky," "The Distant Village of Wild Roses," "The Town of the Scent of Flowers," "Toujitsu and the Bear," "Fairy Tales of the Mountain: The Wind's Roller Skates," "The Field of the Dogwoods..." and "The Tofu Shopkeeper's Story. -The Story of the Tofu Shopkeeper," "The Guests of the Red Rose Inn," "Until the Flowering Beans are Cooked - The Story of Sayaka," etc. Among them, "The Song of the Wind and the Trees" won the 22nd Elementary School Library Literature Prize, "A Distant Village of Wild Roses" won the 20th Nonoma Children's Literature Prize, and "Fairytale of a Mountain: Roller Skates of the Wind" won the the 3rd Shinmei Nanoshi Children's Literature Award, and "Until the Flowering Beans are Cooked - A Tale of Saya" won the 2nd Hirosuke Fairy Tale Award.

Table of Contents

The Little People in the Pot

Marrying the Bride

A Boot

A String of Beads

The Little People Who Dance

Restless Days

Going to the House with the Red Roof

The Little People in the Pot The twilight of a cold November day.

The letter carrier knocked hard on the door of a building facing the main road.

"Letter-letter-" The house, with no mailbox, no doorplate, and almost no windows, had a big heavy iron door that was already rusted. The white walls were blackened with smoke, and not a sound could be heard in the house.

(Would anyone live in such a place?). While thinking like this, the letter carrier continued to knock on the door. Why? Because the envelope was addressed to "Hotel Kikuya, 5-3-11 East Street", and the building was really Kikuya's sake cellar.

The mailman knew that twenty years ago, there was a big brewery in the area called Kikuya. He has also heard that Kikuya was destroyed in the war, and that it was almost completely burned down during the war, leaving only a sake cellar, and that the family and the shopkeepers fled in all directions.

But now, the letter is sent to the only remaining sake cellar.

Since then, the world has changed completely, the shape of the city, the name of the city have all changed. However, on this envelope, it does say the current address, and there is no mistake that it refers to this wine cellar.

So, once again, the letter carrier called out loudly, "Is the man from Kikuya there?" Then he put his ear to the iron door.

To his surprise, there was a thud from inside. Immediately after that, the sound of clicking and unlocking was heard. The postman couldn't help but take a few steps back and say, "Ah, the letter." The door creaked open, and in front of the letter carrier stood a silent grandmother in a dark blue crushed white dot patterned cloth kimono.

Seventy years old? No, with her back bent like that, she looked eighty or ninety. She blinked her tiny eyes as she said, "I, ah, am the hermit of Kikuya." The letter carrier was shocked: "Really? I've heard that all the people of Kikuya have scattered and fled, and none of them stayed in this city." The grandmother laughed.

"I'm the only one left." She said, "I have been waiting in this cellar for news of my son for nearly twenty years. Ah, today at last!" The grandmother took the letter, held it between her hands, and made a gesture like a bow before receiving it in her arms. Then, turning suddenly to the letter carrier, she said thus: "Come in and sit down for a while! As a thank-you gift for delivering the good news, I'll buy you a drink from Kikuya's secret stash." The postman was a little frightened, but a little curious.

In the depths of the cellar, a small light was dimly lit, and an uncanny smell mixed with the scent of wine and mildew wafted in.

The letter carrier hesitated for a moment, but was relieved when he thought that by this time the bag on the motorcycle happened to be empty and the delivery was over for the day.

With a warm invitation from the grandmother, he said, "Then drink less" and went into the cellar.

The cellar is like a cave.

This is an old wine cellar that has not seen any sunlight or ventilation for a long time, and no one has ever visited it. If someone lived in such a place, it would be a ghost, if not a demon. The letter carrier looked warily toward the grandmother's face.

But the grandmother didn't look scary at all. Not much white hair gathered behind her head, is squinting eyes smiling. There are often grandmothers who give this kind of feeling in big stores that have been around for years.

"Here, have a seat." The grandmother said.

It was then that he noticed a large armchair in front of him. I can't imagine that the wine cellar has become a small parlor. An antique round table, four velvet chairs, kerosene lamps smoked black and an iron fireplace. These things seemed to float up in a blur as if bathed in magical light.

The letter carrier sat down in his chair and reached his hands toward the fireplace. Only to hear the grandmother say: "Now, let me buy you a warming drink!" Then, she walked towards the depths, and unexpectedly climbed up to the barrel that held the wine at the end, and took down a jug from a high shelf. It was a jug over twenty centimeters high and made of fired earth. The grandmother carefully touched the pot, walked back, and gently placed it on the round table.

"This is our family's secret wine, ah, it's chrysanthemum wine." "Is it?" The letter carrier blinked.

"Chrysanthemum wine? That means it's wine made from chrysanthemums?" "Yes." The grandmother nodded.

"Just as you said. Wine made from grapes is wine, and wine made from plums is plum wine, that's what it is. But this is no ordinary wine, it's the only rare thing in this world!" "Is it? Does it have a special flavor?" The letter carrier held the jug up with one hand to get a whiff of the flavor. But he lifted the jug at once, unexpectedly light.

"Isn't it empty, empty?" The mailman called out in disappointment.

Only the grandmother covered her mouth, giggled like a mischievous little child, and said: "That's why it is said to be the only wine in the world." "Please don't play tricks on me." The letter carrier strained his face; he thought the grandmother was teasing him.

"Don't be angry, don't be angry," the grandmother put her hand on the letter carrier's shoulder, then whispered in his ear, "Don't be surprised! From now on, something interesting is going to happen." After saying this, the grandmother took a white cloth out of her bosom and spread it beside the jug.

It was a handkerchief with lace. On one corner, a very small blue heart was embroidered. When she was ready, the grandmother sang this song to the pot: "Come out, come out, the little man who makes chrysanthemum wine" The song has a special rhythm.

Next, out of the jug slowly came a tiny, tiny man.

The letter carrier held his breath, "The little ...... man ...... " he muttered in a hoarse voice, and watched with rounded eyes as the little man climbed down the ladder.

It was a chubby little male person. A large apron was tied around his waist; his feet were dressed in black boots, which, on closer inspection, had jagged rubber on the soles; white cotton gloves were on his hands; and on his head was a straw hat ...... with wheat stalks blooming out of it, anything like a human being.

"This is the little man who brews chrysanthemum wine." The grandmother murmured.

The little man made a long leap to the handkerchief, and he put both hands together around his mouth, tilted his face up at the top, and made a gesture of shouting something.

Then another female villain came out of the pot. Next came three child villains.

P1-10

Genuine Book