This girls name was Tsukiko and she lived in a house by the forest with
her father, stepmother and two younger half brothers. Tsukiko was a beautiful
and kind girl, but she lived a miserable life. Her real mother died when she was
only five years old and her stepmother was not a nice woman. She made Tsukiko a
servant of the house and didn’t treat her like she was part of the family. Her
half brothers didn’t treat her with kindness either. Her father was no good
either; he preferred his sons than his own daughter. Tsukiko missed her real
mother terribly; her real mother loved her until the day she died.
One morning Tsukiko was out in the forest picking berries. Suddenly she
heard a noise of someone or something struggling. When she saw what the noise
was about she was horrified. A wolf cub was caught in a snare trap; the wire
was caught round its right leg. Tsukiko rushed over to set it free.
“It’s alright” hushed Tsukiko “I’ll set you free”. She slipped the wire
of its leg. The wolf cub nuzzled her in return to say ‘thank you’ then ran off.
When Tsukiko got home she heard her father and stepmother talking. “Husband
did you meet the woman?” asked the stepmother.
“Yes I did” the father answered “and it has all been arranged. Tsukiko
will become a servant to Lady Azusa tomorrow and we will get the payment then”.
“That is fine with me” replied the stepmother.
Tsukiko could not believe what she had heard; her own father was selling
his own daughter into slavery. It was bad enough for her to be ignored and
unloved by him, but now Tsukiko couldn’t stand it much longer. So she decided
to run away. When no one was looking she slipped out of the door and ran back
into the forest. She ran and ran until she was far away from home. So far that
she couldn’t remember the way back home. ‘I don’t care that I’m lost’ she
thought ‘no one will worry about me, besides I’m not wanted at home anyway’.
Finally she could run no further and collapsed onto the grass.
Just as she was about to look for shelter a wolf came out of the bushes.
It was a big brown and white wolf and looked very fierce. Tsukiko was scared,
but just sat up looking calm. “Go ahead wolf” she said “you may eat me”. She
decided to end her misery by becoming the wolf’s meal. But instead of eating
her, the wolf just walked over to her and just stared at her. “Are you alone?”
Tsukiko asked the wolf, petting its head, “I’m alone too. My father, stepmother
and brothers don’t want me around and I can’t go home anymore”. Tears poured
down her face. The wolf licked her face to cheer her up, turned round, and then
it moved its head to tell her to follow it. Tsukiko understood and followed the
wolf.
The wolf led Tsukiko to a village that stood deep in the forest. When
the wolf took its first step into the village, it transformed into a man, a
human man with wolf ears and a tail.
“You’re a wolf man!” gasped Tsukiko “Then this is the village of the
wolf people?”
“That
is correct” said the wolf man “I’m Ichiro and I have brought you to my home”.
“My name is Tsukiko” said Tsukiko, still in shock, “but I thought you
wolf people were just stories”.
“Oh no we are real” replied Ichiro “it’s just we can only turn into
humans when we are in the village. We become wolves when we step out of the
village”.
“I’m surprised you have brought me here” said Tsukiko.
“You said that you have no home” said Ichiro “besides I can’t leave a
pretty girl like yourself alone in the forest”.
“I thank you for your kindness” said Tsukiko, bowing her head in
respect.
Ichiro took Tsukiko’s hand and brought her to his house. “I’m home!” he
shouted, when he opened the door. Four wolf children ran up to greet him. Three
of them were rather young, around five years old. The fourth one was a bit
older than them, around eight years old. Tsukiko found them rather cute.
“Tsukiko these are my siblings” said Ichiro. The eight year old was
called Jiro and the younger three were triplets; the boy was called Goro and
the girls were called Hatsuko and Kuniko. Jiro ran up to Tsukiko “Nice to see
you again” he said “thank you for saving me from that trap”. “Are you the wolf
cub?” asked Tsukiko. Jiro nodded yes. “Well since you’re the one who saved
Jiro” said Ichiro “I have another reason for letting you stay with us. Everyone,
Tsukiko will be living here with us”. The wolf siblings jumped up and down
shouting ‘Hurray!’
So Tsukiko lived with the wolf siblings. She cleaned and cooked for
them, with their help too, and she played with the younger siblings. And she
would nurse them if they were sick or hurt. Jiro, Goro, Hatsuko and Kuniko
liked Tsukiko as if she was their mother and elder sister. Whenever Ichiro came
home from hunting they would always talk to him about her.
One evening when Ichiro came home he saw Tsukiko singing his siblings to
sleep. “That sounds nice” he said to her “that song makes me feel all relaxed
and calm. What is it?” “Oh it’s called a lullaby” Tsukiko answered “my real
mother used to sing them to me all the time”. Ichiro asked her to follow him to
his room. “I wanted to talk to you but I didn’t want to wake them up” he
explained “but I had to ask you. You’re a beautiful and kind girl and you’re
very helpful, yet you were driven from your home. Why is that?”
Tsukiko explained about her real mother’s death at age five, how her own
father always treated her like she didn’t exist and when her father married her
stepmother. “When my father married again I thought my stepmother would love me
like my real mother did”. She said everything about how her stepmother didn’t
treat her like family and made her a servant of the house. Even about how her
half brothers never treated her like she was their sister, even though she was.
Last of all she talked about her parents’ plan of selling her into slavery and
her run away from home. Ichiro became more and more cross by every word she
said. He pulled her into a hug. “I cannot believe that you were treated like
that” he said “you didn’t deserve that life”. Ichiro broke the hug and just
held her hands. “Tsukiko I know my siblings and I are wolf people. But would
you live with us forever? Ever since I first met you I’ve being wanting to have
you by my side forever and I will make you happy. So would you stay with us?”
“Yes” replied Tsukiko “I feel much happier here with you and Jiro, Goro,
Hatsuko and Kuniko than I was back at home”. Ichiro pulled her into another hug
in response.
And so Tsukiko lived with the wolf siblings for the rest of her life.
She was loved by all of them, as if she was a real family member, and of course
she loved them too. Tsukiko finally had a loving, happy family.
