Long, long ago, deep in the mountains, there lived a poor young man.
One cold winter's day, the young man found a crane caught in a trap in the snow, struggling in pain.
Feeling sorry for it, the young man freed the crane from the trap and let it go.
That very night, a beautiful woman came knocking at the young man's door.
"I have lost my way," she said. "Please let me stay just for tonight."
The woman stayed on in the house, and before long the two became husband and wife.
One day the woman said, "I am going to weave cloth—while I am weaving you must never look inside the room," and shut herself in.
The cloth she finished was so beautiful that it sold for a high price in town.
Again and again the woman wove her cloth, but little by little she grew thin and weak.
Growing worried, the young man broke his promise and peeked into the room.
And there inside was a crane, plucking out its own feathers to weave the cloth.
"Now that you have seen me, I can stay here no longer. I am the crane you saved that day."
The woman took back her crane's form and flew away into the sky.
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