Momotaro, the Peach Boy
Classical Stories · No. 15 — The boy from the peach and his three quarrelsome soldiers.
- Classical Stories
- 47 min
- Ages 8–13
- 7 chapters
About this audiobook
An old woman washing clothes in the river sees an enormous peach come bobbing downstream — and when the old couple cut it open, a laughing baby boy looks up at them. Momotaro, the peach boy, grows strong and kind in their small house, until the year the oni come down from their island fortress to raid the coast. He sets out with a bag of his mother's millet dumplings, the best in Japan — and it is the dumplings, shared one at a time, that recruit his three famous companions and hold the quarrelsome little army together all the way to Ogre Island.
Why it's worth a listen
A boy found floating inside a giant peach grows up to sail against an island of ogres — armed with millet dumplings and three companions who cannot stand each other: a proud dog, a clever monkey, a fierce pheasant. It is the sunniest adventure of the season, and underneath the fun is the oldest lesson about teams ever told.
A question to keep
What makes a team — being strong alike, or being different together?
Chapters
- Introduction
- The Gift of the River
- The Shadow of Ogre Island
- Three Rivals on the Road
- Across the Gray Waves
- The Gate of the Oni
- A Question to Keep