Japanese Fairy Tales | Page 7

to have him leave so soon, but since he
would go they begged him to accept a few small presents (so they said) in token of their
gratitude to him for delivering them forever from their horrible enemy the centipede.
As the warrior stood in the porch taking leave, a train of fish was suddenly transformed
into a retinue of men, all wearing ceremonial robes and dragon's crowns on their heads to
show that they were servants of the great Dragon King. The presents that they carried
were as follows:
First, a large bronze bell. Second, a bag of rice. Third, a roll of silk. Fourth, a cooking pot.
Fifth, a bell.
Hidesato did not want to accept all these presents, but as the Dragon King insisted, he
could not well refuse.

The Dragon King himself accompanied the warrior as far as the bridge, and then took
leave of him with many bows and good wishes, leaving the procession of servants to
accompany Hidesato to his house with the presents.
The warrior's household and servants had been very much concerned when they found
that he did not return the night before, but they finally concluded that he had been kept by
the violent storm and had taken shelter somewhere. When the servants on the watch for
his return caught sight of him they called to every one that he was approaching, and the
whole household turned out to meet him, wondering much what the retinue of men,
bearing presents and banners, that followed him, could mean.
As soon as the Dragon King's retainers had put down the presents they vanished, and
Hidesato told all that had happened to him.
The presents which he had received from the grateful Dragon King were found to be of
magic power. The bell only was ordinary, and as Hidesato had no use for it he presented
it to the temple near by, where it was hung up, to boom out the hour of day over the
surrounding neighborhood.
The single bag of rice, however much was taken from it day after day for the meals of the
knight and his whole family, never grew less-- the supply in the bag was inexhaustible.
The roll of silk, too, never grew shorter, though time after time long pieces were cut off
to make the warrior a new suit of clothes to go to Court in at the New Year.
The cooking pot was wonderful, too. No matter what was put into it, it cooked deliciously
whatever was wanted without any firing--truly a very economical saucepan.
The fame of Hidesato's fortune spread far and wide, and as there was no need for him to
spend money on rice or silk or firing, he became very rich and prosperous, and was
henceforth known as My Lord Bag of Rice.

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!"
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