New Year's Day was drawing near. At the home of the rich old man and woman they were pounding mochi, preparing festive foods, and busily getting ready for the New Year's period. But there was no mochi at the poor old couple's home.
"The mochi-pounding next door is easy to hear, but I can't taste anything," they said, and then went into town to sell New Year's decorations./1
"Decorations! Decorations!" they called as they walked around. When they had finally sold all their decorations, they both sat down to rest on a large stone by the seaside. As they sat there, a wave washed up around the stone, and a beautiful princess stepped out. She was called Otohime, the princess of the Dragon Palace at the bottom of the sea.
"Old man! Old woman!" she called. "How about it? Wouldn't you like to come see the Dragon Palace?"
Both the old man and the old woman were very surprised, but there was nothing that would make them happier. "Please take us there, if you don't mind," they requested.
"In that case," Otohime said, and she clapped her hands. At that, three large turtles came floating up on a wave. Otohime, the old man and the old woman each got on a turtle. Then they dove through the waves, and went to the Dragon Palace at the bottom of the sea.
The dragon palace was more beautiful than any they had ever seen, or even heard about. The old man and old woman listened to singing and watched dancing and passed the time so happily that they didn't notice it pass.
Even so, they sometimes thought of Japan, and one day the old man said to the old woman, "Isn't it about time, old woman, to say goodbye and go back home?"
Together they went before Otohime and said, "Otohime-sama, we are very grateful for so many things. Now we would like to return to Japan."
"I hate to part from you," she replied, "but if you are going back I will give you a turtle as a momento. It is small, but it is a gold-laying turtle."
The old man and old woman accepted the cute little turtle, and returned to Japan very happily. As they had been instructed, they put the turtle in the back of a cabinet, and every day they fed it 5 go of azuki beans. Then every night the turtle, inside the cabinet, would make a kirin, kirin sound as it layed a number of pieces of gold that were round and flat like coins.
The old man and old woman would sit happily listening to the kirin, kirin sound and say something like "There's three more-- no that's number four."
But eventually the rich old man and old woman heard about the turtle. "They say there's a gold-laying turtle at your place," they said. "Won't you lend him to us for one night?"
The poor old couple refused, saying "This is our precious turtle that we received from Otohime-sama . . ." But willy-nilly, the rich old couple took the turtle and went back to their own home. They put it in the back of the cupboard and fed it 10 go of azuki beens, since they thought more food would mean more gold. However, the next morning when they opened the cabinet and took a look, there wasn't a penny to be found, but just a big pile of turtle turds.
"You crappy turtle!" the rich old man yelled angrily, and he threw the turtle against a rock.
When the poor old man heard the yell, he ran over as fast as he could go. But the turtle, sad to say, was completely dead. So the old man took it back home, and together with the old woman he buried it in the back garden. Immediately, a mikan tree sprouted from the grave. As they watched, the tree grew bigger and was covered with blossoms. Before long, the blossoms had turned to a heavy load of fruit.
"My, my! What a beautiful mikan tree," the old woman said, and she picked a fruit and peeled it-- inside was a glittering gold mikan. The pair were overjoyed, and picked hundreds of fruit. Each one, when peeled, was a mikan made of gold. Thanks to that, the old man and old woman who had been so poor became extremely wealthy. And that's the happy ending.