The Bamboo Cutter

Said to be the oldest known Japanese narrative, this tale dates to the 9th or 10th century:

One day a bamboo cutter found a beautiful girl named Kaguya-hime inside a bamboo stalk. He took her home and raised her as his daughter.

As she grew up the fame of her beauty spread, until five princes asked for her hand. Kaguya-hime, not wanting to marry any of them, set five impossible tasks for her suitors; when they all failed, she was able to remain with her foster parents. After this, the Emperor of Japan came to see the beautiful girl and, falling in love, asked her to marry him. He, too, was refused. However, in her 20th summer she began fall into fits of melancholy when the moon was full. Eventually she revealed that she was one of the moon people, and that it was time for her to go home.

The emperor placed guards around her house, but the moon people sang them to sleep and put a robe of feathers upon Kaguya-hime's shoulders that caused her to forget her earthly memories. Climbing up the slopes of Mt Fuji the party returned to the heavens where Kaguya-hime became an immortal moon maiden.