The Children and the Wind Spirit

Peach Boy

The Rolling Rice Ball

The Sparrow with the Split Tongue

The Rolling Rice Ball

Omusubi Kororin

Long long ago there lived a kind old man and a kind old lady. One day, the old man headed into the mountains to cut wood. When it became exactly lunchtime, the old man said,

“It’s time to eat the rice balls that my kind wife made for me.” He sat down on a tree stump and took one of the rice balls into his hands. Just as the old man was about to eat the rice ball, he looked over at a nearby hole in the ground. Suddenly he saw too long white ears as white as snow appear from the hole.

“What was that?” asked the old man, surprised. He leaned over to get a better look, and the rice ball slipped from his hand and rolled away. The old man grabbed for the rice ball but he was too late. The rice ball rolled right into the hole!

“Well, there’s nothing I can do about it now,” sighed the old man. Just then, he heard a charming song rise up from the hole in the ground.

“The rolly polly rice ball bumpety bump bumped,” sang the voices.

“Hmm, that doesn’t sound like a professional singer, but the song is very cute,” thought the old man. He decided that he would like to hear the charming tune again. He took a second rice ball and rolled it straight into the hole.

“The rolly polly rice ball bumpety bump bumped,” sang out the voices.

“That is really a cute song that I hear,” the old man said to himself. “I like that tune, so I think I will roll another rice ball down into the hole.”

“Oh no! I have no rice balls left to roll down into the hole!” The old man had rolled all of his rice balls into the hole. He returned home and told his wife about his unusual experience.

“Oh, you’re very lucky,” the old woman said to her husband when she heard the story. “I’m glad you could hear such a cute song. It sounds as though that song made your day very enjoyable.”

The next day, the kind old woman made even more rice balls than before. She lovingly wrapped them in bamboo leaves and gave them to her husband.

The old man was very excited, and couldn’t even wait until lunch time. He rolled one rice ball down into the hole. As the rice ball plopped down into the hole, he heard the charming tune once again.

“The rolly polly rice ball bumpety bump bumped,” sang the cute voices.

“The singing is getting better and better,” thought the old man, “now those sound like very professional singers.”

The old man was glad to hear the lovely singing. He rolled his rice balls down into the hole again and again, and every time he was greeted with the charming song. Finally, there was only one rice ball left. This time, the old man did not remove the bamboo leaves before rolling it down into the hole.

This time, he heard a new song, “The rolly polly bamboo leaves bumpety bump bumped,” the voices sang.

The old man laughed and laughed. He was having a lot of fun! He leaned close to the hole to peek inside. But this time instead of rice balls, the old man slipped and rolled down into the hole!

“The rolly polly old man bumpety bump bumped,”

“ouch!” exclaimed the old man. After bumpety bump bumping down into the hole, he dusted himself off and stood up. He looked around and saw that he was in a huge room.

“The bunnies pound the sticky rice, bompedy bomp bomp,
the bunnies prepare for the new year, bompedy bomp bomp,”

In the middle of the room were rabbits as white as snow. They were singing and dancing as they pounded the sticky rice to prepare the new year’s special meal.

“That looks like fun!” exclaimed the old man. He joined the bunny rabbits and danced around the room with them.

“The old man is dancing, bompedy bomp bomp,
He’s a great fun man, bompedy bomp bomp,”

The rabbits were delighted. The old man and the rabbits danced about together, laughing and smiling and having fun.

After they had finished dancing and playing, they ate a delicious meal and the rabbits learned that it was the old man who had rolled the rice balls down into the hole.

When it was time for the old man to return home, the rabbits gave him a magical mallet as a good-bye gift. It was the same mallet that they had used to pound the sticky rice as they danced and sang.

The magical mallet had wonderful powers. When the old man waved the mallet and said, “bean curd come forth, thumpety bop bop,” then delicious bean curd would magically appear. If he waved the mallet and said, “rice come forth, thumpety bop bop,” then jars of rice would appear.

And so the old man and old woman lived happily for the rest of their days, waving the mallet for anything they wanted or needed.