Beautiful girl lying asleep on a rice field. The sun stood high in the sky and the girl was tired. At that time, one of the gods was looking from heaven at the ground. He knew that the girl's beauty was a reflection of her dreams in heaven. He knew that when she smiled, she talked to the spirits of wind and flowers.
Then the deity sank to the ground and offered the dreaming girl to be his wife. She was happy about it, and they got engaged. After her death, a beautiful, bright red gem remained.
A long-time after that, a villager found this stone. He immediately noticed that it was a precious stone. He appreciated it very much and carried it with him everywhere.
Often, when he admired it, in a pale month-long glow, it seemed to him that two shiny eyes looked at it from the depths of the stone. He often woke up in the silence of the night, for it seemed to him that a pure silver voice was calling him by his name.
One day the peasant had to carry the reaper's lunch in the field. The sunburned. He loaded the cow with cups of rice, porridge, and beans, and walked lightly. Suddenly, Prince Ama-Boco crossed the road. He was angry because he thought the villager wanted to kill the cow. And the prince did not want to listen to a word of excuses. His anger was increasing. The settlement was getting scarier and scarier. Finally, he took the red gem out of his pocket and gave it to a stranger as a propitiation. Ama-Boco was struck by the remarkable beauty of the gemstone and allowed the villager to retreat. After that, the prince returned to his palace.
There he took out his treasure, which suddenly became a goddess of incomparable beauty. And as soon as he saw her, he immediately fell in love with all his soul, and before a new moon came, they were engaged.
The goddess helped him in all his affairs. She prepared his delicious meals. She squeezed wine out of all sorts of herbs. But soon the prince became vain and arrogant. He began to treat his faithful wife with humiliating contempt. And then the goddess was saddened and said:
— You do not want to know my love! I would rather leave you and go back to your father!
But Ama-Boco did not pay attention to these words, because he did not believe in the execution of her threat. But the beautiful goddess said it very seriously. She left the palace and left for Naniva, where she was revered as the goddess of light.
As the prince learned that the goddess had left him, he became angry and rushed to pursue her. But as he approached Naniv, the gods forced his ship back to the harbor. And then he only knew that the gem had been lost to him forever. He directed his ship to the northern shores of Japan and landed at Tai-im. Here he was welcomed and honored thanks to the treasures he had brought with him.
Since then, Prince Ama-Boko has remained in Tayyim and became the ancestor of a large family.
Among his descendants was a princess who was so famous for her beauty that eighty-one bridegroom sought her hand. But one by one, the grooms returned home sadly, because no one found her affection.
Eventually, two brothers, the eldest, the god of autumn, and the youngest, the god of spring, appeared before her. The God of Autumn was the first to speak.
But the princess refused him. Then he went to his little brother and said:
— The princess does not love me, and you can hope to win her heart as little as you do.
But the god of spring was full of hope and objected:
— I am ready to give you a barrel of rice wine if I do not win the heart; but if she agrees to be my wife, you will give me a barrel.
So the god of spring went to his mother and told her of his intentions. She promised him her help. And one night she has woven his clothes and sandals from the kidneys of lilacs and white jasmine. She made a bow and arrows out of delicate flowers. So the god of spring appeared to the young princess. When he appeared before the girl, all the flower buds blossomed, and the fragrance spread from the heart of each flower, filling all the surrounding air, and then the princess stretched out her hand to the young spring god with happiness.
The elder brother, the god of autumn, was angry as soon as he learned that his brother had received such a strange dress. He refused to give up the promised barrel of wine, but when his mother goddess found out that the goddess of autumn had broken her word, she put stones and salt in the empty boot of the bamboo trunk, wrapped it with bamboo leaves, hung it over the house and said:
— As the leaves wither and fall, so may it be with you. As the salty lake descends at low tide, so descend and you. As the stone falls, so will you!
And it all came true. While the spring god remains eternally young, always fragrant and cheerful, the autumn god — eternally ageing, eternally fading, eternally sad.