Tengu

Tengu (TEN-goo) are mythical creatures that used magic and lived in the forests and mountains of Japan. The first reading strategy is prediction. What can you predict about tengu from these images and the brief description given.

• Look at the tengu's body. What can that tell you about the tengu?
• Look at what the tengu is holding. What does that tell you about the tengu?

A Story of the Tengu

Long ago, a man wandering through a forest in Japan came upon a long-nosed, magical goblin called a tengu. Eventually, the tengu agreed to teach the man ninjitsu, a kind of magic. Using ninjitsu, the man could now turn invisible, swim underwater for hours or run as fast as a horse--just by uttering a few words. But the man was arrogant and soon began abusing his powers, using them to steal from travelers and sometimes even to kill them. One day as he was passing through the mountains, the man came upon a farmer walking slowly along the path. The man was impatient and would not wait for the farmer to move out of his way. He drew his sword and swung at the farmer's neck. But his sword never found its mark. Looking down, the man saw that his sword was broken. Looking up, he saw the farmer sitting in a tree laughing. The farmer was actually a tengu in disguise. Try as he might, the man could never perform ninjitsu again and was soon caught and punished.

--Adapted from a story told by Masaaki Miyazaki about his distant ancestor. Recorded by American folklorist Richard Dorson in 1957.

• Taken from the American Museum of Natural History: Mythic Morals page.