Once upon a time there was a brave samurai called Tomotada , who had been brought up from childhood in the court of the king. He was young, strong, handsome, and trusted by the king, was often sent on important mission to various feudal Lords.

'what a terrible winter evening!' thought Tomotada as he rode slowly along on his horse, on a narrow path winding through the forest. The sun had not yet set , but it was already dark and gloomy, as the snow fell thick and fast .

'I wish I could find an inn to stay the night!' he thought. 'My horse is tired and in such heavy snow one could hardly see the way.'

Suddenly, Tomotada saw a small light shining in the distance. Urging his horse to go faster, he saw it came from a small , thatched hut near which grew some blue willow trees.

Reaching the hut , Tomotada got down from the horse . He climbed up the narrow wooden verandah steps and knocked loudly on the door.

An old woman dressed in a worn , shabby kimono opened the door. An old man , her husband stood at the back .

'I'm very sorry to disturb you, respected sir , but I don't know where else to go in this dreadful weather. I've lost my way , but i don't wish to cost you both any inconvenience', said Tomotada .

'Sir...sir.... you're not disturbing is ', replied the old man . 'The cold wind blows sharply, and your horse must be freezing! By your noble appearance, you seem to be a samurai. We are honoured by your presence. Please do come in.'

Hearing such kind words of welcome, Tomotada was happy and relieved.

The old man helped him take off his wet clothes, then went outside to feed the horse and tether.

The old woman asked Tomotada to sit near the fireplace, as she piled more firewood in it .As he was about to do so , a shadow moved from behind a sliding screen door. It was a beautiful young maiden!.

Startled, he thought, ' what on earth is such a lovely girl doing in this poor home , in such a lonely place?".

end .

thankyou to those who read i really do hope u enjoyed it , I'm narrating this story from a book i read when i was 9 , i know there is a folktales book about this too so if u don't like it , don't report me🥺. I'd really appreciate if u guys read it a your own convenience 😸. You can read it from the Japanese folktales book directly too or u can read it from what I'm writing essentially it's the same thing😸🤗🥰.

And if you do enjoy reading the folktales, please 🥺 do subscribe and like it .

there's also another story which is believed to be the real story of the blue willow tree , I'll give a trailer, if you like it comments , I'll write the full story too.

In the Blue Willow legend, a the beautiful daughter of a powerful man fell in love with her father's secretary. Discovering their love, the father banished the secretary and constructed a great fence to keep his daughter contained. She could only walk by the water and the willows.