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First bilingual edition
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CONTENTS |
Shitakiri Suzume したきりすずめ (The Tongue-Cut Sparrow)
Kintarō
Nezumi No Yomeiri ねずみのよめいり (The Marriage of a Mouse)
Urashima Tarō
Kaguya Hime
Momotarō
Kachi Kachi Yama
Kobutori Jiisan こぶとりじいさん (The Old Men With Wens)
Hanasaka Jijii はなさかじじい (The Old Man Who Made Trees Blossom)
Issunbōshi
Bunbuku Chagama ぶんぶくちゃがま (The Lucky Cauldron)
Sarukani Kassen
Shitakiri Suzume (The Tongue-Cut Sparrow)
ONE FINE DAY, a tiny brown sparrow slipped from a tree and broke her wing.
It hurt her very much, and when she found she was unable to fly away, she fluttered around on the ground and cried, “Oh, help me someone! Please, help me!”
Just then, around the corner there came a kind old man with a pointed white beard. He had been for a walk, and when he saw the tiny brown sparrow, he stopped and picked her up.
The little bird sobbed and sobbed, “Chu chu chun chun.”
“Poor birdie,” said the kind old man, “I’ll take care of you.”
So the old man took the tiny brown sparrow to his home where he lived with his wife, and nursed her tenderly. He made a pad for the injured wing. Then he bandaged it carefully. Everyday he took the bandage off, put some medicine on, and bound it up again.
It was not many days until the sparrow was able to fly around the room. The old man called her Suzume-san, which means Miss Sparrow, and the tiny sparrow called the old man Ojiisan, which means Mr. Grandpa.
Suzume-san and Ojiisan grew to love each other dearly. Suzume-san slept with Ojiisan. She ate out of his plate. They also played games together. Their best game was hide-and-seek, because Suzume-san found such wonderful places to hide in. Her excited chirrups and Ojiisan’s chuckles were heard all over the house.
Now the wife of Ojiisan was a jealous, selfish person. She did not like Suzume-san because Ojiisan spent so much of his time with her. He was so very happy when he was playing with Suzume-san.
“Come Obāsan,” the two would call out to the old lady, “Come, join us in this game!” But Obāsan only scowled and shut her paper door with a bang. Ojiisan felt very sorry for her.
One day Ojiisan had to go on an errand. As he couldn’t take Suzume-san with him, he left her with Obāsan.
“Be a good sparrow. Be quiet. Don’t trouble Obāsan,” said the kind old man. “I’ll be home soon.”
Suzume-san felt very lonely. She hopped around Obāsan’s corner, cocked her head on one side and tweeted softly. She looked very winning but Obāsan paid no attention to her.
She was busy washing her clothes. After washing them, she soaked them in starch and laid them out to dry. The starch was in a bowl in the sun.
Suzume-san sighed a tiny sigh and fluttered toward the bowl. It dazzled in the sun and looked very good, so she took a peck at it. It tasted good! She took another peck and then another, and before long the bowl was empty.
But just then Obāsan came rushing toward her and gave an angry scream.
“You wicked creature! You’ve eaten my precious starch,” she shouted and grabbed Suzume-san in her hands.
She felt the soft furry feathers and the frightened heart beating hard. She heard her crying:—“Chun, chun, chun,” which meant, “I’m sorry, sorry, sorry.” But do you know what the wicked woman did?
She opened Suzume-san’s little beak, picked up a pair of scissors and cut her tongue!
Oh how it hurt! Suzume-san gave a piteous cry and flew away, over the roof toward the trees—and into the sky.
Obāsan followed her with a wicked look and smacked her lips. “Now I’m rid of the silly little thing.”
And she went back to her work.
Presently Ojiisan came back.
“Tadaima,” he called, which means, “I’ve just returned.”
No Suzume-san fluttered out to greet him—only Obāsan who was now quite happy.
But when Ojiisan heard the story he was very distressed. He turned away without a word, and though he was tired he walked out, through the meadow, over the hills and up a narrow path where he thought he’d find Suzume-san.
And all the while he called—
“Shitakiri Suzume! Tongue-cut little sparrow! Where have you gone? Where are you?”
Long