In this legend there are a lot of common things
with Minky Momo: we have here a couple without children, a dog, a
monkey, a bird, an even the name "Momo" ("Peach",
in Japanese). Let's see a brief summary of the legend of Momotaro:
Once upon a time, there was an old couple without children
living in the country. One day, while doing laundry at the riverbank,
the old woman found a giant peach ("momo" in Japanese)
floating. She took it home with her. When the couple cut the peach
to eat it, from the peach arised a boy. They named him Momotaro.
As time went by, Momotaro grown healthy and strong. Someday, there
were troubles in town because of demons hounting the village.
Momotaro decided to stop the demons and he got ready to fight
with them. Momotaro went to the island of the demons. In the way
to the island, Momotaro ran into a hungry dog. The dog asked for
food in exchange of help, and Momotaro gave him some. The dog
joined Momotaro and they returned to their way towards the island.
A few steps later, Momotaro found a monkey, who also asked for
food. Momotaro gave him some of his food and the monkey decided
to join Momotaro too. Some time later, a bird joined Momotaro
in the same way. Some days later, they arrived to the island.
The bird flown over the island to watch everything and then said
to Momotaro: "everything is clear, we can go further".
They arrived to the castle of the demons, but the doors were closed.
The monkey jumped easily over the fence and he opened the door
from inside. The demons saw Momotaro and the fight begun. With
the help of his friends, Momotaro could defeat the demons and
the peace returned to the village.
To read this and other Japanese legends, I recommend to visit La
Página de Cuentos Japoneses de Haruna. It's in Spanish
only.
By the way, in the episode 49 "Momo to momo no nazo"
there´s a direct reference to the original Momotaro, when
a boy in the class of Momo says that he is the famous Momotaro and
that he is going to the island of the Oni (demons) to fight them
and asks Momo her pets for company. In order to convince them, he
gives them food, just like in the original legend.
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