Once upon a time, there was an old man and woman who lived in a small village near the edge of a forest. They were a very kind couple, but were sad because they had no children of their own. 

    One day, the old man went out to the forest to cut 

some trees, while his wife carried their laundry to the 

river for washing. While the woman was scrubbing 

her clothes, she was surprised to see a giant peach 

floating towards her down the river. 

    "Wow, that's a huge peach," she said. "It looks as 

large as the moon!”

    "Come here you big peach!" shouted the woman. 

Slowly, as if by magic, the peach bobbed over to 

where she was on the river bank. 

    "This sure is a mysterious peach," she said, 

hoisting the giant fruit out of the water.

     The old woman strained to lift the peach, and 

had great trouble carrying it back to the house. That night the old man returned from the forest, hungry and ready for dinner. 

     "Whoa," he said, seeing the peach. "That's the 

biggest peach I've ever seen. It looks delicious!"

     The old woman began to cut open the peach, 

when she heard a cry from inside. Suddenly, the 

pit cracked open and out popped a beautiful baby 

boy. The two were so surprised, but also so happy 

as finally they had a son they could call their own. 

Because he came from a peach, they decided to 

name him "Momotaro" or "Little Peachling."

     Momotaro's new mother and father fed him well 

and he began to grow. Momotaro especially liked his 

mother's spinach dumplings, which gave him 

incredible strength. 

One day, Momotaro travelled to the village with his 

father.   While they were buying rice for their dinner, 

he overheard a man talking about three demons that 

were troubling the land. They lived on Devil's 

Island, he said, and would come across the sea to 

wreck the villagers’ homes and steal their food and 

money. 

Momotaro was a very brave boy and decided at 

once to go to Devil's Island and fight these demons.

His parents were worried, but Momotaro was a 

stubborn boy and there was no changing his mind. 

His mother packed him a big bag of her special 

spinach dumplings. 

"Eat these when you need strength," she told him, as 

she kissed him on the cheek.   Momotaro took the 

dumplings from his mother and waved goodbye. 

     As Momotaro was walking along the path towards the sea, he came across a dog. The dog could smell that Momotaro had some delicious food.

     "Won't you please share some of your spinach 

dumplings with me?” asked the dog.

     Momotaro was a generous boy and gave the dog a dumpling, which the dog gulped down happily. The dog offered to carry Momotaro's bag for a while, and the two walked together towards the sea.

     On the way, Momotaro and the dog had to climb 

a mountain pass. As they neared the top of the mountain, they met a monkey.   The very clever monkey knew there was food in the bag that the dog was carrying. 

     "Won't you please share some of your food with 

me?” asked the monkey.

     Momotaro gave the monkey a dumpling, which he gladly chewed on. The monkey decided to join Momotaro and the dog on their journey to Devil’s Island.

     As Momotaro, the dog, and the monkey came 

down the mountain they stopped to rest, and there 

they saw a beautiful pheasant flying overhead. The 

bird soon landed on a nearby tree, and could see 

that Momotaro had some delicious food.

     "Won't you please share some of your 

dumplings with me?" asked the pheasant.

     Momotaro gave the bird one of his dumplings, 

which he pecked at with glee. Upon finishing the 

dumpling, the three asked the pheasant if he would 

like to join them on their quest, which he did.