' THE TONGUE-CUT SPARROW ' JAPANESE FAIRY TALES FOR CHILDREN

THE TONGUE-CUT SPARROW


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 un-
grateful 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 [Footnote: An alcove
where precious objects are displayed.] 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.