Stories · By the Water

The Feather Robe in the Pine

12 min · Japan · Kindness · Wonder

On a still dawn beside a pine-lined bay, a humble fisherman finds a robe of white feathers hanging in a low branch, and discovers, through a quiet conversation with the being who lost it, that what is held too tightly can never truly be enjoyed, and that trust, offered first, is repaid with a gift no grasping hand could hold.

Retold from Japanese Fairy Tales, by Grace James.

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Story 7 of By the Water, starting at 1:21:17.