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"Maihime" (The Dancing Girl), by Ougai Mori, is a novel about Toyotaro Ota, a government worker who discovers his true self and future while he was studying in Germany.  While there, he falls in love with a dancer named Eris, at the cost of losing his post.  Although he manages to return to Japan with the help of his friend, he has to part with both his freedom and his now-crazed lover.

    -Nana Kikuchi

SUMMER 1997

AE1-A Core

Summaries of Native Literature

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In "Journey to the West," by Lo Guan Chun in the Ming Dynasty, Lo used personification to tell about a monkey's life and its repercussions for his period's peoples' lives.  This is a famous traditional story in Asia.  The author describes a monkey who has learned of an evil spirit and is going to the west of china with his master and friends to get Buddhist bibles.  Lo tells how the characters have many troubles on the way but they overcome all troubles.  Lo describes how they reach the west and get the bibles; the monkey also becomes human, to his benefit.

   -Jerry Chang,

SUMMER 1997

AE1-A Core

Summaries of Native Literature

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In Japan, there is a fairy tale, "Kaguya-hime."  The author says that Kaguya-hime is a princess of the moon.  One day, an old man was cutting bamboo.  He found a shining stalk of bamboo.  He cut the bamboo.  Then, in the bamboo was a little girl.  He took her home.  She grew.  She helped the old man and his wife.  And then they were rich.  She was very beautiful.  so, many guys wanted to get married with her.  They came to her house every day.  so, she set conditions for them.  They were to get a dragon's scale and find a medicinal herb that couldn't be found easily.  They couldn't bring them.  After that she went back to the moon.
   In my opinion, this story has a dream.  This story isn't true, but it can give us a dream.  This story is also called "Taketori-Monogatari."  It was written a long long time ago.  Then people were wearing
"kimono."  So, I think the author was smart.

   Do you know the story?
It's famous in Japan.  It's a movie too.

   -Kumi Ishihara

The Wise Bird

   One day a bird was walking in the forest looking for food and drink.  After eating, it was very thirsty.  The bird was trying to find water.  As the bird was searching, he saw a jug of water.  there was not a lot of water in the jug, so his beak could not reach it.  The bird was very intelligent so it put stones in the water to bring water to the top of the jug.  He was then able to drink and went home happily.  The story of the wise bird shows that in life some people give up easily but others struggle and work hard and at the end are successful.

   -Amal Ahmed,

SUMMER 1997

AE1-A Core

Summaries of Native Literature

The Writing of King Abdul Aziz

   Around 60 years ago there was a little boy from the royal family.  He was studying in Kuwait because of the wars which were in the old Saudi Arabia.  When Abdul Aziz became a mature man, he was thinking of retrieving his sovereignty from the enemy.  He accomplished that, and his writings tell that story.

   -Essam Mubarak

SUMMER 1997
AE1-A Core
Summaries of Native Literature

Summary of Sim-Chung

In Sim-Chung, there was a young daughter who had a blind widower.  Her mother died when she was a little kid.  so she had to look after her blind father.  They had a very difficult condition.  But they lived very happily.  At that time, one day they had a special ceremony for superstition in the village.  During the ceremony, they put a woman into the sea.  When they chose the woman, she had to be a virgin, be beautiful, and live in that village.  They suggested that sim-Chung do it.  If she would do it, they would pay lots of money for it.  And her father could heal his eyes, if they had that much money, so Sim-Chung do it.  If she would do it, they would pay lots of money, so Sim Ching decided to do it.  After that, Sim-Chung was reborn in the same aged as before.  She was very beautiful and kind.  she got married with the king of the country.  But she wasn't happy because she was still worried about her father, so she asked the king to have a party for the blind.  The last day of the party, she found her father.  he was still blind.  But the moment they met, he opened his eyes.
   I read this book when I was 8.  I liked this story and I still like it, because of her kind mind.  And it has a happy ending.
   -Shanon Yoon, Korea

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SUMMER 1997

"Tale of Heike," by anonymous, tells about the fall of Heike, the first clan of warriors that enjoyed strong power in Japan.  The main theme of this tale is transience.  Transience is one of the most important views of the world in Buddhism; it refers to the notion of the transmigration of souls, which hold that all souls certainly die and everything is certain to change.  Therefore, this tale begins with a view of the world as transient.

   However, I think this view of the world still holds true every time; for example, the overthrow of the Roman Empire and the Ching Dynasty, etc., which were strong nations.

   -Chika Hirama,