Japanese
Long,long ago,there lived two sisters. The name,elder one was Kitsutsuki,or woodpecker and younger one was Suzume, or sparrow. The elder sister was selfish and avarice while the younger one was so kind and a hard worker.
One day,they went to a big shop of clothes to buy them. The master of the shop recommended them to make kimonos by themselves and they bought white cloths.They sewed kimonos very hard from morning through night. When they were about to dye the cloth, they received a letter saying that their father in their native home was very ill, so they should return soon.
The younger sister wanted to return at once. But the elder sister said she would never return until she finished a beautiful kimono and she was absorbed in her kimono.
So the younger sister was going to come back home alone. When she crossed the mountains,rivers and valleys, her white clothes turned dirty. But she at last returned home while her father was still alive.
Several days after her father died,the elder sister in a beautiful kimono came back home. The younger sister,who watched the elder sister who was proud of her kimono, felt very sad. Then a voice came out from somewhere:
"Kitsutusuki,you prefered kimono to your father, so you can always wear a beautiful kimono,but you must eat worms,pecking the trees.
Suzume,you were very kind to your father. Your clothes became very dirty but you can eat everything including the grains in the rice fields."
As soon as the voice finished,they became a woodpecker and a sparrow.
Now beautiful woodpeckers eat worms pecking the trees in the forests while dirty sparrows eat everything in the fields.(corrected:2002.8.14 helped by Mazuka and Itaya)
Long,long ago there lived a boy who was always against what he was told to do.
If he was told to go to the mountain,he went to the river. If he was told to go to the rice-paddy, he went to the wheat-field. He was indeed a cranky boy.
Worrying about his cranky son, his father became ill in bed to the death.
When his father was dying in bed, thinking that his son would never change his mind,he said to his son on purpose,
"When I died,I would like to be buried near the river."
It was not until he lost his father that he noticed he was wrong.
"I was wrong. My father,forgive me.please forgive....."
He made the grave of his father near a river as he was told. But when it rained,the river overflowed the banks. He was much anxious about the grave.
One day it began to rain too much.
He rushed to the river. When he reached the grave, the rain stopped. When he returned his house,it began to rain again.
He rushed to the river. When he reached the grave,the rain stopped. When he returned his house, it began to rain again.
He rushed to the river. When he reached the grave,the rain stopped. When he returned his house,it began to rain again.
He was very tired from going and coming between the river and the mountain where he lived. "My father,I wish I were a bird"
When he wished he were a bird, he found himself going up to the sky and changing into a bird.
Now a mountain pigeon coos,"Te-te Poppo,Te-te Poppo(Father)" when it looks like a rain, anxious about his father. (2001.6.10 remake)
