The story of water that restores youth is one of the world’s wonderful children’s stories, collected and composed by Toshio Ozawa. The story of water that restores youth is a tale from old Japanese legends, or more precisely, it’s Japanese myths from ancient times that are taught to Japanese children until the end of the elementary stage. The story is told as follows:
The husband and wife gathering firewood: Once upon a time, in ancient times, in the past era, in one of the countries, there was an old couple. One day, the husband went to gather firewood, but on that day, for some reason, he didn’t find good wood. So:
The beautiful water pond: He went deeper and deeper into the mountain. When he noticed that he had reached a place he hadn’t been to before, he was confused and looked around him. Behold, he found a very beautiful water pond. He headed toward it immediately, then sat on its shore and scooped up a handful of water and drank it, saying: How delicious these waters are.
The young face and cutting branches: He breathed deeply, let out a sigh of relief and satisfaction, then wanted to scoop another handful. But when he saw his face reflected above the waters, he saw the face of a young man fifty or sixty years old, or twenty-five. When he stood up surprised, he stood upright in stature, after he had been hunchbacked until then. Then he wanted to try cutting some branches. He cut them with ease and comfort.
The husband’s return home: He flew with joy and hurried to return home to tell his wife: Here, I have returned, oh wife! He said that and was about to enter, but his wife screamed at him: Who are you? And what do you want?
Water that restores youth: He said to her: What’s wrong, what’s wrong? I am your husband! The wife got angrier and said: Don’t say nonsense. My husband isn’t this young. He is hunchbacked, and his face is full of wrinkles.
The wife’s decision to go to the magical pond: Then he recounted to her how he found a very beautiful pond deep in the mountain, and when he drank from its waters, he returned young to this extent. When the wife understood that, she flew from joy and said: I too will go and drink from those waters.
The wife drinking from the pond without stopping: She rushed quickly to there in the depths of the mountain. As soon as she found the pond, she started drinking without stopping, increasing, saying: I’ll drink a little too, I’ll drink a little too, I’ll drink a little too, I’ll drink a little too.
Crying of a small child: The husband was waiting for her return at home, but the time was late and she didn’t return. He worried about her, so he went to the mountain to search for her. When he became near the pond, he heard the crying of a small child.
The wife returning to childhood: This child was wrapped in the wife’s clothes. He said to himself: I think this is my wife. She has exaggerated in drinking the water until she returned completely to childhood. Then he lifted the child to his chest and returned to the house crying: Ah, my wife has returned to childhood. The tale ended there.