お月様の唄
A fairy tale that grows from a nursery rhyme about a bird in the moon.
- Authentic text: the opening of a public-domain original
- Word-by-word glosses and translation in English or Chinese, free
- Tap a word for its meaning, listen to the sentence, save words
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Sample: three-line reading
Each word has its meaning in this sentence underneath, and each sentence has a full translation. Read the original and glance down only when you need to.
About the book
The text opens with a nursery rhyme about a tailless bird in the moon carrying a golden ring, then tells of a young prince who loves gazing at the moon and thinking of his late mother. One night a one-foot-tall forest spirit leads him into the oak forest behind the castle, where a woman who reminds him of his mother awaits. The prose moves at a gentle, old-fashioned fairy-tale pace, quiet and slightly dreamlike, with the rhythm of the opening song echoing through it.
Cultural notes (selection)
Background a translation can’t carry: social roles, history and allusions. While reading, tap “Note” at the end of a sentence to see them all.
The forest spirit's cry "お時間じゃ" reminds the prince to return to the palace. In Japanese, "じゃ" is an old-fashioned sentence-ending particle, often used to convey the archaic speech style of spirits, elderly people, and the like.
How the glosses are made
Word glosses and sentence translations are generated in context by AI models (DeepSeek and Zhipu GLM), and every word is checked to have a gloss. AI can make mistakes; you can report problems from the book page.
FAQ
Is this the original text?
Yes. The library holds the opening section of the public-domain original, taken from 青空文库.
Do I need to pay or sign up?
Library books are free to read without an account. Other gloss languages and importing your own texts need an account and credits.
What level is it?
This one is marked “Beginner”. Every word is glossed, so you can keep reading even with a small vocabulary.
Can I use another gloss language?
English and Chinese glosses are prepared in advance; signed-in readers can generate other languages.