Once there was a princess, named Natsu, who got bored all the time. Everyday she would pester the King, saying, "Daddy, all my friends are off at school. Won't you play a game with me?" And, because he was King, he had to reply,
"Not now Natsu. I am busy." Natsu pouted and her mother would take her to the garden to play. But since all of Natsu's friends went to school during the day while she was home schooled, it wasn't fun because Natsu had to play by herself.
One day, as Natsu asked her father yet again to play with her, he ripped a page out of his book and handed it to her angrily. Hoping to get her to stay away for a few days he told her, "Take this and make it - a crane," he decided, spotting the pretty bird flying outside the window. Natsu walked off with the paper. "And don't come back until you do!" he called after her.
Sitting in the garden, Natsu looked at the paper in her hands. It was covered in writing and very stiff. She had no idea how to make it into a crane. Still, Natsu was a clever girl. All day she brainstormed. Could she turn it into a crane with magic? Were there special words or plants to use? Could she just draw a crane? But the page was covered in writing and, even if it was plants she needed, she would never know which one!
Feeling very sad, Natsu heard her mother tell her to go to bed. Obediently, she walked inside, past the paper lanterns and - Natsu froze. Paper lanterns, paper cranes… What if she folded the paper into a crane! Excited, Natsu rushed to her room.
All night long Natsu worked on the crane, folding and creasing and bending the paper, trying to find the perfect combination of folds. Finally, as the sun rose the next morning, Natsu found it. A crumpled, over-creased piece of paper perched on her desk. It looked rather beat up, but it was most obviously a crane. Smiling, Natsu hurried to see her father. When she presented the King with the paper bird he was shocked, but he also noticed how tired she was. Figuring it would take her a long time to make more, he ripped out ten more pieces of paper. "Your crane is all crumpled up," he told her. "Make me ten more cranes, and then come ask to play with me."
With a sigh, Natsu went back to the garden where she took a nap. Later, before going to bed, Natsu carefully folded ten more paper cranes. Lining them carefully on her windowsill, Natsu blew out her candles and went to sleep.
That night, a strange creature visited her dreams. A beautiful crane, bigger than a dog and wearing a silver crown, perched upon her windowsill beside her paper cranes. "I am the God of Cranes," he told her. "And your work pleases me. If you build me one thousand paper cranes I will grant you one wish - whatever you would like." Natsu just stared at him, and he flew away swiftly.
The next morning Natsu showed the king her ten cranes and he quickly tried to think of something else to keep her busy. But, while he looked around the room for inspiration, Natsu asked him, "Daddy, may I have the rest of your book to make more paper cranes?" And, as it was simply a book of to-do lists, he gave it to her. Thanking him, Natsu returned to the garden and got to work.
It took a long time, almost a full year in fact, for Natsu to fold all of her cranes. As it was, she had hundreds of strings of cranes hanging in her room by the time she had finished. The night she folded her one-thousandth crane, the God appeared once more in her dreams.
"I am happy," he told her. "Now you may make your wish."
Natsu had thought long and hard about it, and she had considered asking for many things. But, in the end, she knew just what to ask for, because Natsu was a clever girl.
"I used to think I wanted a friend," she said. "But I have friends, they are just at school. And I used to wish that my dad wasn't a King so he could play with me more. But, I like being a princess. I have many great things and I am very happy right now. So, I wish that you would let anyone, anytime, have one wish come true if they make you one thousand paper cranes."
And, of course, the God granted her wish. Natsu lived to fold more paper animals - though no more Gods came to visit her - and she married a handsome prince named Yuudai. So Natsu grew old and was happy knowing that, if ever her children really wanted something, that all they had to do was fold one thousand paper cranes.