Kane took the mallet to his home. Just as he had seen in his dream Kane you shook the mallet and called out for rice. He was shocked when rice flew out of the mallet.
Soon Kane would call out for gold rice, silk and all of it came out of the mallet just like it had done for the children in his dream.
Ken was a rich and prosperous man.
Now Cho was jealous of him. He decided that he had to find the magic mallet for himself.
He first came Kane's house and borrowed seed rice from Kane.
Cho planted it and looked after the plants.
However, he was impatient and could not wait for it to grow and ripen. Finally, the rice ripened.
Cho waited for the swallows to appear.
The swallows came to eat up the rice. Cho was delighted and he drove away the swallows and he followed the swallows to the distant field.
Cho laid down on the field and he only pretended to go to sleep, but he was wide awake.
A group of children came to play in the field. Cho immediately shut his eyes and pretended to be asleep.
The children watched him anxiously and then they sat down in a ring.
The big boy came close to Cho’s head and lifted the stone. But this time the big boy did not find any mallet.
One of the other children shrugged. “Probably that man who is lying down on the field has taken the mallet.”
So the big boy got hold of Cho's nose and twisted it.
After that all the children also pulled Cho's nose and pinched it too.
Cho’s nose became longer and longer until his nose hung over his chin and his chest and finally the nose elongated to his feet!
Adapted from Japanese Folktales
No comments:
Post a Comment