The Mouse's Purse

This happened a long, long time ago. In a mountain village lived an old man and an old woman. They worked all day long, but their wealth never increased.

One spring day, the old man went to the mountains to gather firewood. He walked and walked until he reached a dense part of the forest. The old man stopped to rest. Suddenly, he heard someone shouting:

"Take that! And that! And here’s another!"
Then another voice chimed in:
"Just you wait, you wretch! I’ll get my revenge!"

The old man was surprised. He looked around but saw no one. He decided to check the grass. Parting the thicket, he froze in place. He couldn’t believe his eyes: two mice were engaged in a sumo wrestling match! One mouse was very fat, and the other was extremely skinny. The fat mouse was pinning the skinny one down and shouting:

"Take that! And that! And another!"
The old man looked closer at the mice and whistled in amazement:
"Well, I’ll be! That skinny mouse is the one that lives in our house. And the fat one—I recognize her too—she’s from the rich neighbor’s house."

The old man hurried home to tell his wife about the mice’s sumo match.
"Something tells me," said the old woman, "that there’s a reason our mouse is so skinny. We live in poverty, and so does she!"

"Let’s try to feed her a little," suggested the old man. "Maybe she’ll gain some strength."

The old woman gathered the last of their rice flour and baked a golden pancake. The old man placed it by the mouse’s hole. The next morning, they saw that the pancake was gone—not a single crumb remained.

The old couple rejoiced:
"Finally," they said, "our poor mouse has eaten her fill! Now she’ll surely have the strength for sumo wrestling!"

The next day, the old man and woman went to the mountains. The old woman was eager to see the mice wrestle.

They hid behind a tree and waited. Suddenly, they heard the fat mouse shout:

"Take that! And another!"
But then the skinny mouse cried back:
"Just you wait! We’ll see who wins this time! Take that!"
The skinny mouse pinned the fat one to the ground.
"Let me catch my breath," pleaded the fat mouse.
After a moment, she asked:
"What’s happened to you, sister? Yesterday I beat you easily, but today you seem stronger!"

"It’s true," agreed the skinny mouse. "You see, sister, you wouldn’t understand: you live in a rich house, while I live in a poor one. I rarely get enough to eat. But last night, my owners decided to feed me—they left a rice pancake by my hole. I think now I’ll have a treat waiting for me every evening."

"Oh, how I love rice pancakes!" sighed the fat mouse. "But no one ever gives me any! Listen, sister, could you bring me a piece to try?"

The skinny mouse shook her head:
"No," she said. "I can’t. It wouldn’t be right to take food from my own home—there’s barely enough as it is. I can’t feed you for free."

The fat mouse thought for a moment, then asked:
"What if it’s not for free? My owner has more money than he knows what to do with. But money isn’t rice pancakes—you can’t eat it. Let’s trade! I’ll give you a coin, and you give me a piece of pancake!"
The skinny mouse was delighted:

"All right," she said. "Let’s do that."
Hearing the mice’s agreement, the old man and woman hurried home. The old woman borrowed rice flour from the neighbors and baked more pancakes. Then she took some red cloth and sewed two sumo belts—*fundoshi*—like the ones real sumo wrestlers wear.

Finally, evening came. The fat mouse visited the skinny one. Seeing the *fundoshi*, she was puzzled:

"Are we going to eat these rags too?" she asked.
"What?!" laughed the skinny mouse. "And you call yourself a sumo wrestler! These are loincloths, called *fundoshi*. When we wear them, we’ll look just like real sumo wrestlers."

The mice put on the *fundoshi* and began their feast. After eating, the fat mouse said:

"I brought a coin, as we agreed. Take it quickly."
The skinny mouse took the coin and placed it on the old couple’s household shrine.
The next day, the old man and woman returned to the mountains. They looked around—no mice in sight! But then they noticed something red in the grass—the *fundoshi*! The mice rose from the grass—they looked just like sumo champions!

"Prepare for the sumo wrestlers’ parade!" commanded the fat mouse.
"Be-gin!" echoed the skinny one. The old man and woman watched the mice’s sumo match, laughing until tears streamed down their faces.

"You won’t beat me again!" cried the skinny mouse. "Take that!"
"And you won’t beat me either!" shouted the fat one. "Take that!"
From that day on, it became a tradition. Every evening, the fat mouse would visit the skinny one, faithfully keeping their agreement. Each time, she brought a coin from the rich neighbor’s house. The skinny mouse would treat her to a pancake, and the coin would go on the shrine.

Little by little, the old man and woman grew wealthy. They never knew want again. And whenever they had a free moment, they would go to the mountains to watch the mice’s sumo matches and laugh.

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The Mouse's Purse

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