The Tumbling Rice Balls

Long ago and far away across the sea, there lived a kind-hearted old man and an old woman. One day, the old man went up into the mountains to gather firewood. He sat down to eat his lunch and opened the wrapper of rice balls. One of his rice balls fell and rolled over. It rolled down the slope of the mountain and finally rolled into a large hole. The old man chased the rice ball and reached the hole. He bent and peeked into the hole. From within the hole, he heard some voices singing happy songs, A Rice ball came rolling, A Rice ball came rolling. Wondering where the voices were coming from, the old man climbed back up the mountain. He picked up another rice ball and rolled it away. The rice ball tumbled down into the hole. Again, the old man peeked in and heard the same song, A Rice ball came rolling, A Rice ball came rolling.

The World of Mice

The old man bent a little more to look into the hole. But he lost his balance and tumbled right into the hole himself. As he tumbled, he heard another song. An Old man came rolling, An Old man came rolling. Inside the hole, he saw a large number of mice. They were happily singing and feasting on the rice balls that the old man had dropped. The mice thanked the old man for the rice balls. They said that they would treat the old man to a feast to repay his kindness. Then, they asked the old man to join in singing. And so the old man and the mice sang, A Rice ball came rolling, A Rice ball came rolling; An Old man came rolling, An Old man came rolling; Little mice came rolling, Little mice came rolling. The old man enjoyed singing and dancing with the mice.

The Box of Treasure

The old man thanked the mice and was ready to go home. The smallest mouse stopped the old man and gave him a box saying, “Please accept this as a token of gratitude.” Thereafter, the old man crawled out of the hole. Returning home, the old man opened the box. He was astonished to see it filled with gold coins and jewels. “There is enough treasure to last us all our days,” the old man said to the old woman. And they were very happy for the rest of their life. However, when the old man told his story, the greedy old neighbour heard about the mice’s gift and decided to do exactly the same so that he might also receive the treasure. He immediately went into the mountains and dropped two rice balls into the hole. He heard the voices singing, A rice ball came rolling, A rice ball came rolling.

The Greedy Old Man

Quickly, he tumbled in himself. Hundreds of mice were happily singing and making rice cakes. The greedy old man waited for the gift but the mice showed no sign of giving him a gift. So, he decided to chase away the mice and keep all to reassure. To frighten them, he pretended to be a cat and began to miaow, miaow, miaow. The mice were frightened and started running away. Just as the greedy old man thought of collecting the treasure, everything went black. He realised that the money and treasure had disappeared with the mice and nothing was left– not even a rice ball. For a long time, he walked around on his hands and knees in the darkness. But he was never able to find the exit and was trapped in the hole.

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