Standing in the midst of the crowd, the Emperor greatly enjoyed the dance of the crane and invited her to come to the palace to dance. The crane nodded in agreement and flew the next day to perform a beautiful dance in the palace. “Would you please stay, live in the palace, and continue to dance?” the emperor implored, but the crane shook her head for she could not abandon her village.

The crane visited the palace as often as she could however, and soon became friends with the emperor. “Can you not speak beautiful crane?” the emperor asked one day. “You are so graceful, so humanlike in your movements and manners that I could almost swear you were human,” the emperor would concede. “If only I could meet a woman as beautiful, gracious, and graceful as you, I know it would bless my kingdom forever.”