The Crane's Return of a Favor

Once upon a time, in the snowy fields of Japan, an old man was going home. As he walked, he saw something strange in the snow. It was a crane caught in a net. The crane looked scared and helpless.

The kind old man decided to help. He freed the crane from the net. The crane opened its big wings and seemed to nod, as if saying thank you. Then it flew away.

The next evening, someone knocked on the old man's door. A young woman was standing outside. She looked very cold and lost. The old man invited her in because he was kind.

The young woman said she had no place to stay. The old man offered her a home. She thanked him and started living with him.

One day, the woman asked if she could weave cloth to help the old man. She only had one request: that he never watch her while she worked. The old man agreed. The cloth she made was very beautiful and delicate.

People from the nearby town heard about the cloth and came to buy it. The old man sold it for a good price. Their life became comfortable.

But each time the woman wove, she became thinner and weaker. The old man was worried. One day, he peeked into the room while she was weaving.

To his surprise, he did not see the young woman. There was a crane at the loom, weaving its feathers into the cloth. It was the crane he had saved.

The crane turned back into the young woman. She told the old man that she was the crane he had helped. She wanted to repay his kindness by weaving beautiful clothes for him.

But now that he knew her secret, she could not stay. The crane woman thanked the old man and turned back into a crane. She flew away into the sky. The old man watched her leave, thankful for the time they had shared.