The Wise Old woman

The Wise Old Woman
The story of the wise old woman is an old Japanese story that was written by Yoshiko Uchida [ 1921- 1972], a Japanese immigrant to the United States of America. This story tells about a village in the western hills of Japan where cruel and unreasonable lord rules, which declared every person over 71 years old, should be banished out of the village and left in the mountains to die. When the villagers heard that, they murmured by themselves how cruel he is. Many people who went over 71 went in the mountains to experience a terrible death. In the village lived a good, kind and hard working farmer along with his mother. Both of them were good and had good times together until his mother got 71 and it was her time to obey the rule. The farmer was so unhappy, and angry, and sad at the same time. The farmer couldn’t let go of his mother so he hid her in his dungeon and bought food and water, and always came to keep her company. One day comes the big mighty lord called lord Higa and tells to the lord of the village,” Do for me three tasks and I will not take over your village, and if you don’t, I will.” All of the three tasks were difficult to solve, and any of the wise men in the village didn’t know how to find an answer for it. The first task was to put a single thread of silk into a log with seven curves in it, and if the villagers don’t do this he will come and conquer the village. All of the villagers were scared and didn’t know how to perform this. The farmer got an idea that maybe his mother knows how to do it, which she did, because she was the only old and wise person left in the village. Same thing happened with next two equally impossible tasks. When young farmer performed all the three tasks correctly Lord Higa left their village and the lord of the village was very grateful to the young farmer, and asked him how he knew what he had to do. The young farmer admitted that his mother is still hidden and alive, fearing for the punishment. However, the lord of the village didn’t punish them, because he understood that we need old people because of their wisdom and experience, and from that day on he canceled the cruel rule.