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Tale Summary

Many hundreds of years ago, there was a woodcutter and his wife, and one day the woman went by the river to wash clothes while her husband collected wood. She saw a peach floating down the water and took it, meaning to share it with her husband when he arrived home. When they went to split it open, out popped a baby. The two raised it as their own, a boy named Momotaro, and he grew up brave and strong. One day he told his parents that he was going to the land of the ogre to bring back riches, and asked them to make dumplings for the journey. They did, and he set off. Along the way, he met an ape who asked where he was going, and told him that he would join in if only he gave him a dumpling. Momotaro shared one, and the ape accompanied him. This happened several times more, when they encountered a pheasant, and later a dog. When they reached the ogre’s island, they all worked together to get inside and beat their foe. Momotaro came home with many riches, and lived in peace with his foster-parents the rest of their lives.

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