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鷹とひらめ

by Kyūsaku Yumeno

A hawk cannot catch a flounder in deep water, so it tries a trick.

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Original language: JapaneseLevel: Beginner199 characters · ≈ 1 minSource: 青空文库

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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.

ひらめがa flounder (subject)海をthe sea (object of swimming)泳いでいますとwas swimming when鷹がa hawk (subject)飛んで来てcame flying掴もうとしましたがtried to grab, but水が深いのでbecause the water was deep掴めませんcould not grab
A flounder was swimming in the sea when a hawk flew over and tried to grab it, but the water was deep, so it could not.
しかたなしにwith no other option; reluctantly知恵を出してcame up with an idea andひらめにto the flounderこう言いましたsaid like this
With no other option, it came up with a plan and said to the flounder:
平目Flounder (name)さんMr./Ms. (name suffix)
"Mr. Flounder,
もっとmore / a little moreこちらのof this side / here浅いshallow処placeにto来てcome (and)御覧look / try (as an invitation)
come a little more to the shallow place here and look.

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About the book

This passage tells of a hawk that cannot catch a flounder in deep water, so it tries luring the fish to shallows with talk of plenty of food; the flounder sees through the trick and swims even deeper with a wry smile. It reads like a short, witty story of clever dialogue, moving along briskly through the back-and-forth exchange.

About the author

Yumeno Kyūsaku (4 January 1889 – 11 March 1936) was a Japanese author whose pen name roughly means "a person who always dreams"; his real name was Sugiyama Yasumichi. He wrote detective novels and also worked as a Zen priest, post office director and sub-lieutenant, and is known for his avant-gardism and surrealistic, wildly imaginative and bizarre narratives.

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.

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