Three sad yet beautiful stories from Japan's Andersen Ogawa Mimei.

Study vocabulary, practice transcription, and translate while reading fairy tales filled with unique Japanese sentiment!

Ogawa Mimei's fairy tales, like his pen name, which can be read as "Mimyeong" (未明) in Chinese characters, are imbued with a sadness like the dusky dawn.
It is rare to find a happy ending where the main character lives happily ever after. Rather, there are more heartbreaking endings that leave you feeling empty and lonely after reading.
But there is an undeniable beauty behind it.
Reading his fairy tales, we come to realize that life and happiness are finite, yet precious and lovable.
This book contains three fairy tales by Ogawa Mimei, and includes a space for transcribing the works.
Learning a foreign language is a challenge that opens the door to an exciting world and an adventure to explore a new self.
I hope this book will be a small stepping stone on that mysterious journey.

Some sorrows are offset by other sorrows, not by joy.
During a time when I was suddenly immersed in sadness and helplessness, I happened to come across Ogawa Mimei's fairy tales.
Just like his pen name, which can be read as 'Mi-myeong' in Chinese characters, his stories are imbued with a sadness like the dusky dawn.
--- p.6

Looking over, a boy was running down the road, rolling a hoop.
And the hoop glittered gold.
Taro's eyes widened.
Because I have never seen such a beautiful shining hoop before.

--- p.18

'Who on earth could it be?' Daro was extremely puzzled.
He was a boy I had never seen before, but for some reason he felt like my best friend.

--- p.22

Taro dreamed of becoming friends with a boy, receiving a gold hoop from him, and running endlessly down the road together.

--- p.24

One day, the soccer ball, which had been suffering so much from everyone, reached a point where it could hardly bear it.
And I even thought that if I were to suffer like this for days on end, I would rather my skin tear and become useless.

--- p.30

A soccer ball was curled up in the shade of a tree branch, and clouds were looking down from the sky.
Because the cloud took pity on the ball being bullied by the children.

--- p.34

The kids looked really lonely after the soccer ball disappeared from sight.
Even when people gather in the square, they no longer shout and play like they used to.

--- p.40

Gong really missed the times he spent with the kids.
And I couldn't stay still any longer, thinking that I would soon be forgotten by everyone and become an outcast.

--- p.44

Moonlight filtered through the clouds and cast a lonely glow over the waves.
Whichever way you looked, endless, terrifying waves rolled and swelled.

--- p.56

The mermaid was a woman.
And she was carrying a child in her stomach.
We have been living in this desolate blue sea of ​​the north for a long time without any companions.

--- p.60

There was a small village by the sea.
There were several shops in the village, and at the foot of the mountain where the shrine was located, there was a shop selling simple candles.

--- p.64

Grandfather was waiting for Grandmother to return, and when she returned, she was holding a newborn baby.

--- p.70

My daughter was skilled at drawing things like fish, shellfish, and seaweed on white paper with red paint, even though she had never learned it before.
Grandfather was surprised when he saw the picture.

--- p.76

“It’s so wonderful, because it was drawn by a mermaid, not a human,” said the grandfather, as he shared the story with the grandmother.

--- p.78

My daughter, exhausted, would sometimes stick her head out the window on moonlit nights and gaze at the deep blue sea of ​​the far north with tears in her eyes.

--- p.84

'Since ancient times, mermaids have been considered ominous beings.
He said plausibly, 'If you don't get rid of them before it's too late, something bad will definitely happen.'

--- p.86

The daughter sat back down and drew a picture in the grass.
Then, at this moment, there was a commotion outside.
The merchant from the other day finally came to pick up his daughter that night.

--- p.90

When she was unable to draw with the candles she was holding because of the urging, she ended up painting them all red.
The daughter left behind two or three red candles to commemorate her sad memories.

--- p.92

As night broke, a pitch-black, eerie landscape of the distant sea unfolded before us.
The number of ships that were wrecked that night was countless.

--- p.98

Someone once saw a red candle floating on the waves on a dark, starless, rainy night, rising higher and higher, and then moving towards the shrine on the mountain, swaying faintly.

--- p.102