Princess Kaguya

The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (竹取物語 Taketori Monogatari), also known as The Tale of Princess Kaguya (かぐや姫の物語 Kaguya-hime no Monogatari) is the oldest surviving Japanese prose.

It tells the story of Kaguya, a mysterious girl found in the stalk of a glowing bamboo stalk. As she grew up to be beautiful, she had many noble suitors, to whom she gave impossible tasks to win her favour.

Link to Wikipedia article

English paperback:
"'She was like Princess Kaguya turning away potential suitors on the grounds that they weren't from the moon or couldn't pick a jewel from a dragon's neck.' (p 17)"

Japanese paperback:
"'まるで、宇宙人や超能力者でも持ってこなければ話にならん、と求婚者に理不尽を告げるかぐや姫のよう. ” (p 22) ('She was like Princess Kaguya, turning away suitors on the unreasonable grounds that they were not aliens or didn't have supernatural powers.)"