Once upon a time, in a small village in Japan, there lived an old couple. The old man was a kind - hearted and gentle person, while his wife, the old woman, was very malicious. There was a big tree behind their house, and a little sparrow lived in the tree. This little sparrow was extremely cute and would sing for the old man every day. The old man liked this sparrow very much and often fed it some food.
One day, the old woman asked the old man to catch the little sparrow. She wanted to feed the sparrow herself too. The little sparrow flew onto the old man's hand, and the old man brought it to the old woman. The old woman was very angry. She thought the sparrow had eaten too much of their food, so she grabbed the sparrow viciously and cut off its tongue with scissors. The little sparrow chirped in pain and then flew away. The old man was very sad and reproached the old woman for being too cruel.
The little sparrow flew to a far - away place, where it met a group of kind sparrow friends. Seeing its injured tongue, the sparrow friends all sympathized with it and helped it heal the tongue. The little sparrow lived happily in the new place, but it didn't forget the old man's kindness.
After a while, the little sparrow filled some small boxes with gold and silver treasures and let a big sparrow carry these boxes to the old man's house. The old man was very surprised to see these treasures, and the old woman's eyes lit up even more. The old woman wanted to get more treasures, so she urged the old man to find the little sparrow's home.
The old man followed the marks left by the little sparrow and found the little sparrow's home. The little sparrow welcomed the old man warmly and prepared a lot of delicious food to entertain him. The old man was very touched, but he knew the greedy nature of the old woman, so he only took a little treasure and was about to go home. But the old woman was not reconciled, so she ran to the little sparrow's home by herself.
When the old woman arrived at the little sparrow's home, she saw more treasures and wanted to take them all away. The little sparrow didn't stop her, but when the old woman was leaving, those treasures suddenly turned into a lot of terrifying things, such as snakes and toads. The old woman was so frightened that she threw down the treasures and ran away, and she also fell and got injured on the way of running.
However, the old man still lived a peaceful life. He often thought of that kind little sparrow and also understood the principle that good deeds will be rewarded and bad deeds will be punished.
