Yoshiko Uchida The Wise Old Woman Analysis

In the folktale, “The Wise Old Woman,” retold by Yoshiko Uchida, took place in medieval Japan. The theme of this story is that the elderly has experience and wisdom as well as dignity.

This folktale is about a arrogant young lord who banished all elders of the age of seventy-one and left them in the mountains to die. Except one farmer that could not accept his mother dying alone in the mountains because of an unjustful decree. He had deceived the young lord and concealed his mother underground. It was around two years later that another atrocious lord named Lord Higa nearly conquered their village as well as demanding difficult tasks. Without the elders around there was no one wise enough to have a solution to these impossible demands, which

The first task was a to bring Lord Higa a box of a thousand ropes of ash, which is impossible since ash crumbles at the touch of the finger. Lord Higa was ready to conquer their village knowing there was no one wise enough to solve these assignments. The young lord quickly gathered his wisest men. Even the wisest men could not figure out what to do. “Fools!” the lord cried angrily. “What good is your wisdom if you cannot help me now?” Without any elders to help The farmer heard what the impossible task was and went to his mother. His mother easily knew what to do and told her son “All one has to do is soak ordinary rope in salt water and dry it well. When it is burned, it will hold its shape and there is your rope of ash! Tell the villagers to hurry and find one thousand pieces of rope.” The farmer quickly rushed to the young lord with new information his mother gave him,“You are wiser than all the wise men of the village,” the young lord exclaimed to the farmer not knowing that this new information was from a wise elder that he wanted dead. The only elder in the village that was living knew what to do. These are some things why one way the theme developed is through character

Again Lord Higa demanded an impossible task threatening to overthrow their village. The people were scared that he was going to conquer their village this time. The young lord once again gathered his wisest men, they did not have enough wisdom to solve their problems, “And again you are stupid fools!” the lord said, stamping his foot impatiently.” Even the wisest men could not see through the problem and was afraid, “It is hopeless. It is hopeless. This time Lord Higa will conquer us all.” The farmer quickly heard the new troublesome task and quickly went home worried, telling his mother about the crucial task once again. She was not worried and had a smile on her face, “Put some sugar at one end of the hole. Then tie an ant to a piece of silk thread and put it in at the other end. He will weave his way in and out of the curves to get to the sugar and he will take the silk thread with him.” The farmer’s thoughts and feelings to all the problems she had solved consists of him saying, “Mother you are wonderfully wise,” or “Mother you are remarkable,” even he knew that she was the wisest out of the whole village. The village was once saved because of the old woman. Again they were faced with another demanding assignment. The mother gave her wonderfully wise words and the farmer immediately went to the young lord with his mother’s intelligent information. The young lord questioned if he had help