There once was a woman who was expecting a baby. She and her husband had spent many years wishing and praying for a child, and now at last their wish was coming true.
They lived in a small cottage next to a beautiful garden. This place belonged to a wicked witch named Saaya Yamabuki and was surrounded by a high wall so that no one dared to go in.
One day the woman stared out her back window and heard a voice singing. The woman always wanted a voice as sweet and pure as that and soon she asked her husband to go over the wall to ask the wicked witch for a voice that sounded sweet and pure.
Her husband refused for he was scared of the wicked witch too. Days pass and the woman would not eat or drink anything and could think of nothing else but having a singing voice that sounded so sweet and pure. Her husband was beside himself with worry, for she still refused to touch anything else and became quite pale and drawn. One night the poor woman said,
"Husband, if I do not have a singing voice that sounds so sweet and pure, I believe I shall die and take my child with me."
Then her husband, who loved her very much, said to himself, "I'd rather risk my own life than hers and my child's."
And so that night he climbed over the garden wall and walked toward the wicked witch's palace. The wicked witch, Saaya greeted him.
"What brings you to my humble home?" Saaya crackled.
"My wife who is expecting a child longs for a singing voice that sounds so sweet and pure. She longs so much for a singing voice that I fear she might die if I do not get her a singing voice."
"In that case," said Saaya, "I will give your wife a singing voice. But only on one condition: When your child is born, you must give it to me. I shall not harm it but look after the baby as if it were my own flesh and blood."
The husband was terrified of the witch and agreed to give her the child. Saaya then handed the terrified husband a necklace with a shining blue orb.
"Anyone who wears this necklace will have the sweetest and purest singing voice in the whole country." Saaya said and with that, she slammed the door in fount of the husbands face. He then returned home and gave his wife the blue necklace.
A few months later the baby was born. It was a girl, and as soon as she uttered her first cry, the witch appeared. The parents begged her in vain to let them keep their daughter, but the witch picked up the child, called her Utau, and took her away.
Utau grew up to be a beautiful girl. She had eyes the color of purple and long hair that shone like spun gold.
When Utau was twelve years old, the witch locked her up in a tower, deep in the middle of a thick forest.
It was a bare and hateful place, with no stairs or door but just a small window in the little room at the top. When the witch wanted to come in, she would stand at the foot of the tower and say:
"Utau, Utau,
Sweet and fair,
I am here,
Let down your hair."
Then Utau would lean out of the window and throw a long golden rope down, made of her own hair. The witch would grab Utau's rope of locks and very slowly climb up the window. Utau, of course, could never get out of the tower; she was trapped in it for good, with not a single soul for company.
Now one day a prince named Kukai was riding through the forest on his horse. He heard Utau singing and her sweet voice cast a spell over him. He tried in vain to find a way into the tower, but there was no door, no ladder- just smooth, slippery stone.
There must be a way in and out of this place, thought the prince. I shall hide nearby until someone comes. In the evening the witch appeared with some food for Utau. She stood at the foot of the tower and called:
"Utau, Utau,
Sweet and fair,
I am here,
Let down your hair."
Utau leaned out of the window. When Kukai saw her, he could not take his eyes away from her. Oh, how beautiful she was; those purple eyes, those rosy cheeks, that long golden hair that was tied into two ponytails. The prince was enchanted.
When the witch had left, Kukai stood under the tower and, with his heart beating wilding in his chest, called:
"Utau, Utau,
Sweet and fair,
I am here,
Let down your hair."
Down tumbled the golden rope, and up climbed Kukai. What a shock Utau had! She had never seen an ordinary man before, let alone a king's son in all his finery. But then Kukai started to talk to her and his gentle voice soothed away her fears. Over the days, Kukai would bring two super size ramen bowls with him and Kukai and Utau would have a contest.
One day Kukai said, "Come away with me, I shall love you and make you my queen."
"But how can I get out of this accursed tower?" said Utau, who had also fallen in love with Kukai.
"Do not fret," said Kukai. "I will find a way."
And he did. Every night the prince brought Utau a skein of silk, with which she wove a long ladder. This she kept hidden from the witch in a chest. When the ladder was nearly finished, Kukai said,
"I have built a palace for you- it is the most beautiful home in the world, and you will be happy there."
"I can't wait to see it," said Utau. But that very same night she made a terrible mistake; she said to the witch, "How is it that you take so long to climb up my hair? My prince is with me in a moment."
"What is this I hear, you deceitful child?" roared the witch. "I shut you off from the rest of the world and you have betrayed me!" In a fit of rage she seized a pair of scissors and found the ladder which she viciously cut it into many pieces. Then she grabbed her by the ears and, chanting a magic spell, cast her into a thorny desert. That night she returned to the tower and fastened Utau's rope of hair to a hook by the window.
Shortly after midnight, Kukai arrived. He called out in his usual way:
"Utau, Utau,
Sweet and fair,
I am here,
Let down your hair."
Down tumbled the rope of golden hair and up climbed Kukai. What a shock he had! Instead of his beautiful Utau he found a hideous girl.
"Your lovebird is here no more," cackled Saaya. "She is gone, lost forever. Now marry the true most beautiful girl in the world."
Kukai was terrified of the witch that he climbed down the rope real fast, although it looked more like he was jumping down the rope. He then cut the rope with a scissors and left the ugly girl in the tower. He then ran away, forgetting about his horse and where he was going. The only thing on his mind was Utau.
For years he roamed around the forest, too miserable to try to go back home to his kingdom. He lived on nuts and berries, and at night he slept under the trees with the owls hooting in the branches above him. Then one day he stumbled into a desert.
The sun was blazing and his mind started to wander. Was that a voice he could hear in the wilderness? Was someone singing? It sounded so much like his beloved Utau. He stood and listened. Yes, it was Utau singing. There she was, in the desert where the witch had left her. He called out to her and they fell into each other's arms. Utau's tears of joy rained down on Kukai.
Utau and Kukai traveled back to his father's kingdom, where they lived happily, far away from the miserable wicked ugly red-head witch.