Once upon a time, there lived an old married couple.
They were very happy together.
The old man was a lumber jack.
When he went to work, the old woman made rice balls for him.
One day, he went to cut trees taking the rice balls the old woman made.
He was working so hard that when he realized the time, it was already noon.
"Time for a lunch break!" He sat on a stump and took out the lunch box.
"My wife's rice ball is the best. It is indeed delicious."
Talking to himself, he opened up the bamboo sheath wrapped rice balls.
At that time,
"Oops!" One rice ball slipped out of the sheath.
It rolled downhill.
The rice ball bounced and bounded down the slope, rolling on and on...
And the rice ball went plop: right into a hole in the ground.
"Oh, no... That's bad. What a waste."
He looked inside the hole. The hole was deep and dark.
Just then, from the hole, came the sounds of music and song:
♪Rice ball, rice ball, rolling on and on! ♪Rolling on and on and on, plop! in the hole.
"How strange... Who is singing?"
He had never listened to such a beautiful song ever.
"Well, one more rice ball."
He dropped another rice ball down the hole.
Soon, the same song began again!
♪Rice ball, rice ball, rolling on and on! ♪Rolling on and on and on, plop! in the hole.
"That's funny."
The old man was totally delighted and happy, so he dropped all his rice balls down the hole.
He ate no rice ball....
"Oh no. I dropped all of them.
I still want to listen to more.
Yes! I can go down the hole and ask them to sing!"
The old man went into the hole, rolling down like the rice balls!
As he arrived inside the hole, he saw a large number of mice there.
"Welcome, Sir. Thank you for your delicious rice balls!"
The mice all bowed to him and thanked him a lot.
The next day, the old man asked the old woman to make more rice balls.
These were for the mice.
He went to the mountain with a lot of rice balls.
He visited the hole again.
"Today, we will pound rice cake in return," said the mice.
They brought a mortar and a pestle, and ...
♪Rice cake, rice cake, pound pound pound! ♪Mice are making, pound pound pound!
Singing a happy song, they started making rice cake.
"What a tasty rice cake!
Your songs and rice cakes are exceptionally great! The best in the world!"
"Thank you so much! Now I should go home," said the old man.
He had a really wonderful time with the mice.
The mice even gave him a gift.
It was a magic mallet. It would give him anything he wished for.
He received this amazing gift and went home.
"Hey, dear, what would you like?" asked the old man to the old woman.
"Well well... There are many things I would like,
but, it would be great if we could have a lovely baby," answered the old woman.
"Okay, let's try."
As soon as the old man shook the magic mallet, a lovely baby was already on the old woman's lap.
Of course, it was a human baby.
They cherished the baby and lived together happily ever after.