The cuckoo and his brothers

Japanese: 時鳥と兄弟 - ほととぎすときょうだい

This is an animal folktale belonging to the category of "little bird past lives". A blind older brother misjudges his younger brother's affection and kills him by slitting his stomach. After learning the truth, he transforms into a cuckoo and cries 8,080 times every day, "I miss my brother." Distributed throughout the country, it mainly tells the tragic story of two brothers, but in some areas it is a story of parents and children, or of a monk and a boy. The cries also vary from place to place, and are as diverse as "Did you cut the knife?" (Iwate), "Your younger brother has cut his stomach open" (Tokyo), "I miss my younger brother, I'll dig up some sweet potatoes and eat them" (Ishikawa), "Did you cut the holon?" (Nara), and "Your younger brother is a dolphin?" (Nagasaki).

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

小鳥前生譚に属する動物昔話。盲目の兄が弟の好意を邪推，弟の腹を割いて殺した後，真実を知ってホトトギスに化し“弟恋し”と毎日八千八声鳴くという話。全国的に分布し，おもに兄と弟の悲劇を語るが，親と子，和尚と小僧の話になっている地域もある。鳴声も各地で異なり，〈包丁かけたか〉(岩手)，〈弟腹切っちょ〉(東京)，〈弟恋し，芋掘って食わそ〉(石川)，〈ほーろんかけたか〉(奈良)，〈弟いるか〉(長崎)と多様である。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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