Japanese Folk Tale

28 The Yanagita Guide to The Japanese Folk Tale
19. The Wife's Picture
Long ago there was a farmer who was a little simple. Nobody
wanted to marry him, so he lived alone in a little hut. One evening a
beautiful woman came and asked him to take her as his wife and they
married. She was so beautiful that Gonbei was completely charmed and
lost interest in work. She had him draw a picture of her and take it
with him to his garden patch. He hung it on the branch of a tree while
he worked. One day a big wind blew the picture high, then dropped it
into the yard of a feudal lord. When the feudal lord saw the picture,
he wanted the woman as his bride. He sent his men out to look for
her. They learned that she was Gonbei's wife, and they forced her to
go with them to the castle. As his wife left, she told Gonbei to come
to the castle gate to sell pine boughs on New Year's Eve. He took the
pine boughs and stood before the gate, shouting, "Pine boughs, pine
boughs!" The wife, who had not smiled since she had been taken away,
broke into a laugh. The feudal lord was so pleased that he had the
pine bough pedlar brought in. He traded clothes with him and imitated
him to make the woman laugh. He then went out to the street to
imitate him. In the meantime, the woman had the gates closed, and the
feudal lord could not come back in. He was left on the outside while
Gonbei and his wife occupied the castle and lived there together.
Niigata, Nakakanbara-gun, Gosen-mura
Iwate, Kamihei-gun, Tono: Kikimimi 20, "Kabuyaki Sesajiro."
Niigata, Nakakanbara-gun: MK II 2 46, "The wife's picture" (Esugata
ny6bo). Example.
Minamikanbara-gun: Kamuhara 4, "A dream that came true" (Masayume).
The first dream of the New Year came true. The man
became a noble. How he got his wife is the same.
Hiroshima, Takata-gun: Aki 112, 117, "The wife's picture" (Esugata
ny6b6). Both tales have the same title. Geibi 109, "The wife's
plan" (Ny6b6 shian).
Yamagata-gun: Aki 118, "The wife's picture" No. 3 (Esugata
ny6b6). These three stories are perhaps variants of "The tasks of
the son-in-law."
Nagasaki, Minamitakaku-gun: MK I 11 22, "The wife's picture" No. 1
(Esugata ny6b6); Shimabara 121, "The wife's picture" (Esugata
ny6b6). The beginning is like "The wife from the Dragon Palace" in
T6hoku. Trials are set by the feudal lord.
Kagoshima, Amami Oshima: MK II 3 46, "The wife's picture" (Esugata
ny6b6). It is about Bokka. The wife came from a different region.
Her picture was blown away. Tasks set by the feudal lord, wagering
on wrestling matches by two old men, and the hand of the
image resemble the Hasedera tale in Shinshli.
Further reference:
Mukashibanashi kenkyii II 6 7. Foreign examples can be found in