Japanese Graded Readers: Fairy Tales and Short Stories with Read-aloud Method
Lesson 1-2: 北風と太陽 /The North Wind and the Sun
Japanese Script
二人とも自分の話ばかりして、人の話を聞きません。二人は毎日ケンカをしていました。ある日、北風はいつものように言いました。「ケンカは終わりにしよう。おれの方が強いんだから。」太陽もいつものように言います。「うん、ケンカは終わりにしよう。けど、僕の方が強いと思うよ。」その日もケンカは終わりそうにありません。そのとき、北風はマントを着た若い男が歩いているのを見つけました。北風は言いました。「あの人のマントをどちらが早く脱がせることができると思う？これでどちらが強いかを決めよう。強ければ簡単にマントを脱がせることができるはずだ。」「それはいい。よし、やってみよう。」 二人は男のマントを脱がせることにしました。
English Translation
Both of them just spoke their own story and didn’t listen to the other person’s one. They were arguing every day. One day, the North Wind said as usual, “Let’s finish the argument because I’m stronger.” The Sun also said as usual, “Yeah, let’s finish the argument, but I think I’m stronger.” On that day, it seemed that the argument wouldn’t finish as well. At the time, the North Wind found a young man walking with a cloak. The North Wind said, “What do you think, which of us can make the person take off his cloak earlier? By this, let’s decide which is stronger. If you’re strong, you should be able to make him take off his cloak easily.” “Sounds good. Well, let’s try.” They decided to make him take off his cloak.
Vocabulary
| Words | Types | Meanings |
|---|---|---|
| 自分 | pronoun | myself, yourself, oneself |
| ばかり | focus particle | only, merely, nothing but |
| ある日 | set phrase | one day |
| いつものように | set phrase | as always, as usual |
| 終わり | noun | the end |
| （し）よう | expression | expressing volition, like "let's" |
| ...そうにない | expression | showing no signs of..., unlikely to... |
| マント | noun | cloak |
| 脱ぐ | u-verb | to take off, to undress |