Old Man of the Sparrows [Contest]

Old Man of the Sparrows [Contest] skin description

Once, in ancient Japan, there was an honest old man whose wife was greedy and of a poor temper. The two had never had any children, so the man kept a tiny sparrow as his pet. He kept especially good care of the sparrow, and in time the old woman grew jealous and hateful of the bird. The old woman was especially temperamental on wash days. Earlier that day, the Old Man left to get some fish from the market, and while he was gone left the Sparrow in the keep of his wife. In the midday, she grew hungry, and set to making rice cakes for herself. The bird, hungry and lonely in the Old Man's absence, pecked at one of the cakes. When she saw this, the old woman grew angry and cut out the Sparrow's tongue. When the Old Man came home, he was devastated to be unable to find his pet, and so went out into the mountains to search. He did not find his friend until years later, when on his way to the market he stumbled upon an old beaten path, and so stumbled upon the house of his old friend, the Sparrow. The sparrow's wife invited him into the nice little house, and was led out to the garden where a small picnic had been set out. He enjoyed the sparrows' company: the silent sparrow, the kind wife, and their two daughters. Mrs. Sparrow apologized for not having more, but the old man was simply thankful for the company. The sparrows presented him with a gift, upon him needing to leave. They offered him two baskets, one heavy and one light. Not wishing to be greedy, the old man took the lighter of the two baskets and bid his friends goodbye. Upon arriving back at his house, the old man opened up his basket and found treasures of gold, silver, and crystal. His wife saw this, and quickly left to find the sparrows' house and claim treasure for herself. At the sparrows' house, the old woman was bossy, unthankful for the simple tea and rice cakes presented to her, and brusquely avoided all conversation. The sparrows, however, still offered her the two baskets at the end of the meal. In her greed she quickly grabbed the heavier basket and ran from the house. In the woods, before she reached the house, the woman opened her basket and released a horrible monster which devoured her soul. The Old Man, on his next visit to the market, found her body in the woods. The Sparrows invited him to live with them, so that he would not be lonely, and he lived out the rest of his days in comfort with his friends. Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed my contest entry, directly adapted from a Japanese Folk-Tale (which I learned about from a Mr. Gaijin Goombah on YouTube). As always, leave your comments, questions, or requests below, and until next time, DFTBA.