The Magic Veil

I found a Japanese fairy tale, beautifully written. Maybe someone would enjoy reading it to their children. It is somewhat pure and simple compared with todays standards, but the language used is very gentle.

THE MAGIC VEIL

Once upon a time there was a fisherman who lived quite happily all by himself in a little house near the edge of the sea.
One day as he was fishing ,he thought to himself, "How beautiful it is today! The sea is blue and as smooth as a mirror and the green pine trees are dazzling!"
while he was admiring the view , a lovely perfume suddenly filled the air. The fisherman put down his rod and decided to find out where this unusual aroma was coming from. He began to walk in the direction from which it seemed to be coming and in a little while he came upon a magnificent veil caught on the branch of a pine tree. The delightful scent seemed to be coming from the veil.
"What a superb veil!" he exclaimd. "I will take it home with me and treasure it always."
He climbed up the tree and grasped the veil. As soon as he reached the ground again he began to examine it carefully. It was the most extraordinary veil anyone had ever seen.It was woven of the sun's rays and of precious moonbeams, and there were tiny glistening stars
scattered throughout.
The fisherman was about to retrace his steps when he caught a glimpse of a young girl standing in the shadow of a pine tree. "Kind sir," she said, "that veil is mine. It is the veil of the heavenly nymphs. Please give it back to me."
Keeping his distance, the fisherman replied,
"If you are telling me the truth, this veil is precious. I would be foolish to return it. And besides..."The fisherman paused for a moment and moved closer to the girl. He wanted to see the face of the one who spoke in such an enchanting voice. When he was near enough to see her, he discovered that she was indeed one of the heavenly nymphs. At the moment she looked very unhappy, with great big tears spilling out of her eyes.
"Please give it back to me," she repeated. "If you don't, I won't beable to return to my sisters."
The fisherman's stern heart became tender, he was charmed by the girl's beauty and gentleness. "I will return it to you if you remain on earth and dance the wonderful heavenly dances for me.
"Of course I will dance for you. But first, please give me back my veil."

"No. If I do, you will deceive me and fly off right away. You are trying to fool me."
"Please don't say that. Don't you know that the heavenly nymphs never lie? I said I would dance for you and I shall. But I cannot do anything without my veil."
The fisherman bargained for some time before he decided to return the magic veil to the nymph, and when he did she began to dance a marvrelous
dance; her feet gently soared off the earth. The veil floated around her as if invisible hands were holding it up. And a shower of magnificent flowers floated down from the sky.
The fisherman, who had seated himself on a tree trunk in order to admire the dance better, was sad to see her slowly move away and rising gently toward the sacred mountain named Fujiyama. He wanted to call to her, but could not do so. A strange weakness had overtaken his limbs and he could only stay where he was, gazing with astonishment.
The nymph kept on dancing and rising, until she was above the mist which covered the slopes of Fujiyama, above the white snow at the summit, on the other side of the transparent clouds which covered the mountain.
As she disappeared into the blue sky, the fisherman felt more and more at peace with the world. And, as serene as if he had awakened from a lovely dream. He went back to the beach and began to fish again.