The old couple were very much pleased, and they did all they could to show how welcome he was to their home. Peach-boy was the name they gave him. The years passed, and he grew to be a man remarkable for his beauty, his courage, and, above all, for his great strength.
One day he came to the old man and old woman and said: “Father, your kindness has been higher than the mountain on which you cut grass; and Mother, yours has been deeper than the river in which you wash clothes. How can I thank you?”
“Do not thank us,” the old man replied. “The time will come when we cannot work, and then we shall be dependent on you.”
“But as things are,” Peach-boy said, “I am so greatly indebted to you that I hesitate to make a request that is in my mind.”
“What is it?” they questioned.
“It is that you allow me to go away for a short time,” he answered.
“Go away? Where to?” they asked.
“I would have you know,” he said, “that north of the mainland of Japan is an island inhabited by demons, who kill our people and steal our treasure. I want to destroy them and bring back all their stolen riches. For this purpose I wish to leave you.”
The old man was at first speechless with astonishment, but as he considered the matter he was convinced that Peach-boy was not mortal in his origin and therefore was probably safe from injury.
So he said: “You wish to go, and I will not stop you. Indeed, as those demons are the enemies of Japan, the sooner you destroy them and save your country from their depredations the better.”