My Father and the Boy from the Peach

My name is Aka. I am seven years old. I am an oni. Some people call us ogres. We have horns and red skin. We live on a small island far from the human towns. My father was tall and strong. He had a deep voice and a kind smile. Every morning he made rice for me. Every night he told me stories before I slept. He said we oni were not bad. He said long ago we lived with humans, but the humans grew afraid of us. That is why we moved to the island. Most of us, he said, just wanted to be left in peace.

One day a boy came to our island in a small boat. He had a dog, a monkey, and a pheasant with him. The boy was not very big, but he was strong. People say he came from a peach. His name was Momotaro. He said the oni were stealing from villages. My father said we never did that. He said maybe other oni did, but not us. The boy did not listen. He pulled out his sword. My father stood in front of our house. He looked at me and told me to run inside and hide.

I ran inside. I sat under the table. I heard shouting. I heard the dog barking. I heard the pheasant. Then there was a loud sound, and then it was quiet. After a long time I went outside. My father was lying on the ground. He was not moving. The boy and his animals were already in their boat. They had a bag of our things: rice, cloth, and my mother's old necklace. The boy was smiling. People in the village would call him a hero. They would write songs about him.

That was three years ago. I am ten years old now. My mother and I still live on the island. The fire pit in our house is smaller now, because there are only two of us. Sometimes children from the human town come on a boat to look at us. They stand far away and point. They say, 'Are you really oni? Are you the bad ones?' I want to tell them about my father. I want to tell them his stories. But they do not stay long enough to listen. They came to see the place where the brave Momotaro killed the bad oni. That is the only story they know.