JLPT N4 · Graded reading
病む子の祭
100% N4 vocabulary · 280 characters · 0 words to look up
三男いくつねるの？
母おかあさんだって、はじめは子どもだったんだよ。おねえちゃんみたいだったときもあるし、もっと小さな赤ん坊だったこともあるのさ。
三男そうなの。おかしいなあ。かあさんは、はじめからおとなじゃなかったの？
母そんなことありませんよ。どこのおかあさんでも、はじめは赤ん坊で、それから子どもになって、それから娘さんになって、それから結婚して、それから子どもをうんで、そして、おかあさんになるのさ。
Show the English translation
Mother: That's still fifteen or twenty years away.
Third son: How many years?
Mother: Well, you'll sleep hundreds, thousands of nights.
Third son: Mom, were you a grown-up from the very beginning?
Mother: Mommy was a child at first too. There was a time when I was like your big sister, and even a time when I was a much smaller baby.
Third son: When was that?
Mother: A long, long time ago.
Third son: Really? That's strange. Weren't you a grown-up from the start?
Mother: Of course not. Every mommy starts out as a baby, then becomes a child, then a young lady, then gets married, then has a child, and only then becomes a mommy.
Machine translation.
From 新美南吉, 病む子の祭 via Aozora Bunko. Public domain; transcribed and proofread by Aozora Bunko volunteers. Vocabulary adapted by Practice JLPT for this level; this is not an exact transcription.