Original Publication Date: March 1887 (Meiji 20)
This Printing: March 1955 (Shōwa 30), 17th Reprint
Binding: 2-hole musubi-toji binding with red silk
Call Number: Special Collections (General Locked Shelving): By Appointment Only; PZ8.J272
Cataloger: Anika James
Publisher: Nishinomiya Yosaku
Author/Translator: Basil Hall Chamberlain
Artist: Kawabata Gyokushō
Printer: Unknown
Once upon a time, the King of the Dragons decided he needed to get married and found a young Dragonette, and all the fishes came to celebrate the occasion. A month later, the Queen fell ill, and no doctors could find a cure, and they believed she would die. The Queen told her husband that the liver of a live monkey would cure her. He reminded her that no monkeys lived in the sea. He called her mad, which made her cry and regret marrying him. This did not please the King, so he sent his trusted Jelly-Fish to find a monkey. The Jelly-Fish agreed, and at this time he was just like normal fish, but he also had little feet that let him walk. The journey took a few hours, and at the shore he spotted a monkey atop a tree. He asked him to come to Dragon-Land, telling him there would always be ripe fruit and no evil men. The Monkey thought an adventure would be nice and agreed. Halfway to Dragon-Land he became suspicious, and asked why he had been fetched. The Jelly-fish said the King wanted to take his liver, and the Monkey said he left his liver in the tree because it was much too heavy to have while playing.The Jelly-Fish agreed that they should go back for it, unable to see that the Monkey was lying. When they reached the shore, the Monkey said he lost his liver, and told him the King must be worried and he should go on back alone. When the Jelly-Fish returned empty-handed, the King became enraged and ordered his officers to break all his bones, which explains why jelly-fish no longer have bones. When the Queen learned there would be no monkey liver, she decided to get better on her own.
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