Long, long ago in Japan there lived an old man and his wife. The
old man was a good, kind-hearted, hard-working old fellow, but his
wife was a regular cross-patch, who spoiled the happiness of her
home by her scolding tongue. She was always grumbling about
something from morning to night. The old man had for a long time
ceased to take any notice of her crossness. He was out most of the
day at work in the fields, and as he had no child, for his
amusement when he came home, he kept a tame sparrow. He loved the
little bird just as much as if she had been his child.
When he came back at night after his hard day's work in the open
air it was his only pleasure to pet the sparrow, to talk to her and
to teach her little tricks, which she learned very quickly. The old
man would open her cage and let her fly about the room, and they
would play together. Then when supper-time came, he always saved
some tit-bits from his meal with which to feed his little bird.
Now one day the old man went out to chop wood in the forest, and
the old woman stopped at home to wash clothes. The day before, she
had made some starch, and now when she came to look for it, it was
all gone; the bowl which she had filled full yesterday was quite
empty.
While she was wondering who could have used or stolen the
starch, down flew the pet sparrow, and bowing her little feathered
head—a trick which she had been taught by her master—the pretty
bird chirped and said:
"It is I who have taken the starch. I thought it was some food
put out for me in that basin, and I ate it all. If I have made a
mistake I beg you to forgive me! tweet, tweet, tweet!"
You see from this that the sparrow was a truthful bird, and the
old woman ought to have been willing to forgive her at once when
she asked her pardon so nicely. But not so.
The old woman had never loved the sparrow, and had often
quarreled with her husband for keeping what she called a dirty bird
about the house, saying that it only made extra work for her. Now
she was only too delighted to have some cause of complaint against
the pet. She scolded and even cursed the poor little bird for her
bad behavior, and not content with using these harsh, unfeeling
words, in a fit of rage she seized the sparrow—who all this time
had spread out her wings and bowed her head before the old woman,
to show how sorry she was—and fetched the scissors and cut off the
poor little bird's tongue.
"I suppose you took my starch with that tongue! Now you may see
what it is like to go without it!" And with these dreadful words
she drove the bird away, not caring in the least what might happen
to it and without the smallest pity for its suffering, so unkind
was she!
The old woman, after she had driven the sparrow away, made some
more rice-paste, grumbling all the time at the trouble, and after
starching all her clothes, spread the things on boards to dry in
the sun, instead of ironing them as they do in England.
In the evening the old man came home. As usual, on the way back
he looked forward to the time when he should reach his gate and see
his pet come flying and chirping to meet him, ruffling out her
feathers to show her joy, and at last coming to rest on his
shoulder. But to-night the old man was very disappointed, for not
even the shadow of his dear sparrow was to be seen.
He quickened his steps, hastily drew off his straw sandals, and
stepped on to the veranda. Still no sparrow was to be seen. He now
felt sure that his wife, in one of her cross tempers, had shut the
sparrow up in its cage. So he called her and said anxiously:
"Where is Suzume San (Miss Sparrow) today?"
The old woman pretended not to know at first, and answered:
"Your sparrow? I am sure I don't know. Now I come to think of
it, I haven't seen her all the afternoon. I shouldn't wonder if the
ungrateful bird had flown away and left you after all your
petting!"
But at last, when the old man gave her no peace, but asked her
again and again, insisting that she must know what had happened to
his pet, she confessed all. She told him crossly how the sparrow
had eaten the rice-paste she had specially made for starching her
clothes, and how when the sparrow had confessed to what she had
done, in great anger she had taken her scissors and cut out her
tongue, and how finally she had driven the bird away and forbidden
her to return to the house again.
Then the old woman showed her husband the sparrow's tongue,
saying:
"Here is the tongue I cut off! Horrid little bird, why did it
eat all my starch?"
"How could you be so cruel? Oh! how could you so cruel?" was all
that the old man could answer. He was too kind-hearted to punish
his be shrew of a wife, but he was terribly distressed at what had
happened to his poor little sparrow.
"What a dreadful misfortune for my poor Suzume San to lose her
tongue!" he said to himself. "She won't be able to chirp any more,
and surely the pain of the cutting of it out in that rough way must
have made her ill! Is there nothing to be done?"
The old man shed many tears after his cross wife had gone to
sleep. While he wiped away the tears with the sleeve of his cotton
robe, a bright thought comforted him: he would go and look for the
sparrow on the morrow. Having decided this he was able to go to
sleep at last.
The next morning he rose early, as soon as ever the day broke,
and snatching a hasty breakfast, started out over the hills and
through the woods, stopping at every clump of bamboos to cry:
"Where, oh where does my tongue-cut sparrow stay? Where, oh
where, does my tongue-cut sparrow stay!"
He never stopped to rest for his noonday meal, and it was far on
in the afternoon when he found himself near a large bamboo wood.
Bamboo groves are the favorite haunts of sparrows, and there sure
enough at the edge of the wood he saw his own dear sparrow waiting
to welcome him. He could hardly believe his eyes for joy, and ran
forward quickly to greet her. She bowed her little head and went
through a number of the tricks her master had taught her, to show
her pleasure at seeing her old friend again, and, wonderful to
relate, she could talk as of old. The old man told her how sorry he
was for all that had happened, and inquired after her tongue,
wondering how she could speak so well without it. Then the sparrow
opened her beak and showed him that a new tongue had grown in place
of the old one, and begged him not to think any more about the
past, for she was quite well now. Then the old man knew that his
sparrow was a fairy, and no common bird. It would be difficult to
exaggerate the old man's rejoicing now. He forgot all his troubles,
he forgot even how tired he was, for he had found his lost sparrow,
and instead of being ill and without a tongue as he had feared and
expected to find her, she was well and happy and with a new tongue,
and without a sign of the ill-treatment she had received from his
wife. And above all she was a fairy.
The sparrow asked him to follow her, and flying before him she
led him to a beautiful house in the heart of the bamboo grove. The
old man was utterly astonished when he entered the house to find
what a beautiful place it was. It was built of the whitest wood,
the soft cream-colored mats which took the place of carpets were
the finest he had ever seen, and the cushions that the sparrow
brought out for him to sit on were made of the finest silk and
crape. Beautiful vases and lacquer boxes adorned the
tokonoma[1] of every room.
The sparrow led the old man to the place of honor, and then,
taking her place at a humble distance, she thanked him with many
polite bows for all the kindness he had shown her for many long
years.
Then the Lady Sparrow, as we will now call her, introduced all
her family to the old man. This done, her daughters, robed in
dainty crape gowns, brought in on beautiful old-fashioned trays a
feast of all kinds of delicious foods, till the old man began to
think he must be dreaming. In the middle of the dinner some of the
sparrow's daughters performed a wonderful dance, called the
"suzume-odori" or the "Sparrow's dance," to amuse the guest.
Never had the old man enjoyed himself so much. The hours flew by
too quickly in this lovely spot, with all these fairy sparrows to
wait upon him and to feast him and to dance before him.
But the night came on and the darkness reminded him that he had
a long way to go and must think about taking his leave and return
home. He thanked his kind hostess for her splendid entertainment,
and begged her for his sake to forget all she had suffered at the
hands of his cross old wife. He told the Lady Sparrow that it was a
great comfort and happiness to him to find her in such a beautiful
home and to know that she wanted for nothing. It was his anxiety to
know how she fared and what had really happened to her that had led
him to seek her. Now he knew that all was well he could return home
with a light heart. If ever she wanted him for anything she had
only to send for him and he would come at once.
The Lady Sparrow begged him to stay and rest several days and
enjoy the change, but the old man said he must return to his old
wife—who would probably be cross at his not coming home at the
usual time—and to his work, and there-fore, much as he wished to do
so, he could not accept her kind invitation. But now that he knew
where the Lady Sparrow lived he would come to see her whenever he
had the time.
When the Lady Sparrow saw that she could not persuade the old
man to stay longer, she gave an order to some of her servants, and
they at once brought in two boxes, one large and the other small.
These were placed before the old man, and the Lady Sparrow asked
him to choose whichever he liked for a present, which she wished to
give him.
The old man could not refuse this kind proposal, and he chose
the smaller box, saying:
"I am now too old and feeble to carry the big and heavy box. As
you are so kind as to say that I may take whichever I like, I will
choose the small one, which will be easier for me to carry."
Then the sparrows all helped him put it on his back and went to
the gate to see him off, bidding him good-by with many bows and
entreating him to come again whenever he had the time. Thus the old
man and his pet sparrow separated quite happily, the sparrow
showing not the least ill-will for all the unkindness she had
suffered at the hands of the old wife. Indeed, she only felt sorrow
for the old man who had to put up with it all his life.
When the old man reached home he found his wife even crosser
than usual, for it was late on in the night and she had been
waiting up for him for a long time.
"Where have you been all this time?" she asked in a big voice.
"Why do you come back so late?"
The old man tried to pacify her by showing her the box of
presents he had brought back with him, and then he told her of all
that had happened to him, and how wonderfully he had been
entertained at the sparrow's house.
"Now let us see what is in the box," said the old man, not
giving her time to grumble again. "You must help me open it." And
they both sat down before the box and opened it.
To their utter astonishment they found the box filled to the
brim with gold and silver coins and many other precious things. The
mats of their little cottage fairly glittered as they took out the
things one by one and put them down and handled them over and over
again. The old man was overjoyed at the sight of the riches that
were now his. Beyond his brightest expectations was the sparrow's
gift, which would enable him to give up work and live in ease and
comfort the rest of his days.
He said: "Thanks to my good little sparrow! Thanks to my good
little sparrow!" many times.
But the old woman, after the first moments of surprise and
satisfaction at the sight of the gold and silver were over, could
not suppress the greed of her wicked nature. She now began to
reproach the old man for not having brought home the big box of
presents, for in the innocence of his heart he had told her how he
had refused the large box of presents which the sparrows had
offered him, preferring the smaller one because it was light and
easy to carry home.
"You silly old man," said she, "Why did you not bring the large
box? Just think what we have lost. We might have had twice as much
silver and gold as this. You are certainly an old fool!" she
screamed, and then went to bed as angry as she could be.
The old man now wished that he had said nothing about the big
box, but it was too late; the greedy old woman, not contented with
the good luck which had so unexpectedly befallen them and which she
so little deserved, made up her mind, if possible, to get more.
Early the next morning she got up and made the old man describe
the way to the sparrow's house. When he saw what was in her mind he
tried to keep her from going, but it was useless. She would not
listen to one word he said. It is strange that the old woman did
not feel ashamed of going to see the sparrow after the cruel way
she had treated her in cutting off her tongue in a fit of rage. But
her greed to get the big box made her forget everything else. It
did not even enter her thoughts that the sparrows might be angry
with her—as, indeed, they were—and might punish her for what she
had done.
Ever since the Lady Sparrow had returned home in the sad plight
in which they had first found her, weeping and bleeding from the
mouth, her whole family and relations had done little else but
speak of the cruelty of the old woman. "How could she," they asked
each other, "inflict such a heavy punishment for such a trifling
offense as that of eating some rice-paste by mistake?" They all
loved the old man who was so kind and good and patient under all
his troubles, but the old woman they hated, and they determined, if
ever they had the chance, to punish her as she deserved. They had
not long to wait.
After walking for some hours the old woman had at last found the
bamboo grove which she had made her husband carefully describe, and
now she stood before it crying out:
"Where is the tongue-cut sparrow's house? Where is the
tongue-cut sparrow's house?"
At last she saw the eaves of the house peeping out from amongst
the bamboo foliage. She hastened to the door and knocked
loudly.
When the servants told the Lady Sparrow that her old mistress
was at the door asking to see her, she was somewhat surprised at
the unexpected visit, after all that had taken place, and she
wondered not a little at the boldness of the old woman in venturing
to come to the house. The Lady Sparrow, however, was a polite bird,
and so she went out to greet the old woman, remembering that she
had once been her mistress.
The old woman intended, however, to waste no time in words, she
went right to the point, without the least shame, and said:
"You need not trouble to entertain me as you did my old man. I
have come myself to get the box which he so stupidly left behind. I
shall soon take my leave if you will give me the big box—that is
all I want!"
The Lady Sparrow at once consented, and told her servants to
bring out the big box. The old woman eagerly seized it and hoisted
it on her back, and without even stopping to thank the Lady Sparrow
began to hurry homewards.
The box was so heavy that she could not walk fast, much less
run, as she would have liked to do, so anxious was she to get home
and see what was inside the box, but she had often to sit down and
rest herself by the way.
While she was staggering along under the heavy load, her desire
to open the box became too great to be resisted. She could wait no
longer, for she supposed this big box to be full of gold and silver
and precious jewels like the small one her husband had
received.
At last this greedy and selfish old woman put down the box by
the wayside and opened it carefully, expecting to gloat her eyes on
a mine of wealth. What she saw, however, so terrified her that she
nearly lost her senses. As soon as she lifted the lid, a number of
horrible and frightful looking demons bounced out of the box and
surrounded her as if they intended to kill her. Not even in
nightmares had she ever seen such horrible creatures as her
much-coveted box contained. A demon with one huge eye right in the
middle of its forehead came and glared at her, monsters with gaping
mouths looked as if they would devour her, a huge snake coiled and
hissed about her, and a big frog hopped and croaked towards
her.
The old woman had never been so frightened in her life, and ran
from the spot as fast as her quaking legs would carry her, glad to
escape alive. When she reached home she fell to the floor and told
her husband with tears all that had happened to her, and how she
had been nearly killed by the demons in the box.
Then she began to blame the sparrow, but the old man stopped her
at once, saying:
"Don't blame the sparrow, it is your wickedness which has at
last met with its reward. I only hope this may be a lesson to you
in the future!"
The old woman said nothing more, and from that day she repented
of her cross, unkind ways, and by degrees became a good old woman,
so that her husband hardly knew her to be the same person, and they
spent their last days together happily, free from want or care,
spending carefully the treasure the old man had received from his
pet, the tongue-cut sparrow.