Intermediate · JLPT N3
舌切りすずめShitakirisuzume — The Sparrow with the Snipped Tongue
- JLPT N3
- 3,983 characters
- 3 parts
- about 33 minutes
- 2 easier versions
This is one of Japan's best-known folktales, retold by Kusuyama Masao in a warm, gently old-fashioned storyteller's voice. A kindly old man keeps a young sparrow as a pet. While he is away, the sparrow licks up his wife's laundry starch, and she angrily cuts out its tongue and drives it off. The grieving old man goes in search of his little friend, and the story that follows sets kindness and modesty against greed. The narration is in polite です/ます style, opening with the classic むかし、むかし…, and it is full of lively sound words such as ちょろちょろ, にょろにょろ and チュウ、チュウ, along with a short sung refrain. For learners, the appeal is the clear, familiar folktale structure and the strongly contrasted voices. The sparrow speaks in very courteous, slightly archaic keigo (ございます, 下さいまし, お待ち申しております), the old man uses mild plain speech, and the old woman is blunt and rough. That keigo and the older phrasing are the main challenges. The story is short, about 4,000 characters in three parts, so it makes a manageable first step into literary Japanese at around N3.
Contents
Easier versions
This story is also retold in simpler Japanese. Reading an easier version first makes the original much more approachable.
Before you read
- Learn to recognise the sparrow's formal, old-fashioned keigo before you start: ございます (polite 'is/are'), 下さいまし (an archaic, softer 下さいませ), and お待ち申しております ('I humbly await you'). The sparrow's lines will read much more smoothly once these are familiar.
- Use speech style to track who is talking. The sparrow is gracious and formal, the old man is gentle and plain, and the old woman is curt and rough (the insult 欲ばりばばあめ, 'you greedy old hag', shows the kind of language used against her). Quoted lines often have no speaker label, so this helps a lot.
- Several grammar patterns recur in the notes and are worth reviewing first: 〜てしまう (completion or regret), 〜ながら (while doing), 〜ものですから (giving a reason), 〜ないうちに (before something happens), 〜ばかりに (just because of…), and 〜でたまらない (unbearably…).
- Watch for repeated verb stems such as 言い言い ('saying again and again as…'). This older storytelling device describes an action that happens repeatedly while something else is going on.
- Treat the onomatopoeia (ちょろちょろ, にょろにょろ, チュウ、チュウ) as part of the fun. Try reading these aloud, because they convey movement and sound more vividly than a dictionary gloss can.
Words to know
The most useful words from the notes across the story.
| Word | Meaning | JLPT |
|---|---|---|
| つづらつづら | wicker basket-box with a liddictionary form: 葛籠A traditional woven box for clothes and belongings, carried on the back; the key object of this story. | — |
| 留守るす | absence (from home or a place)〜た留守に = while someone was away. | N4 |
| 飼ってかう | to keep (an animal), to raisedictionary form: 飼うUsed only for animals; don't confuse with 買う (to buy), same reading. | N3 |
| とくいとくい | proud, pleased with oneselfdictionary form: 得意Also commonly 'good at' (得意な科目); here it means triumphant. | N3 |
| のりのり | starch (for stiffening laundry)Written 糊; also means glue or paste. Rice starch made it tempting to a sparrow. | N2 |
| くたびれたくたびれる | to be tired out, worn outdictionary form: くたびれるColloquial synonym of 疲れる. | N2 |
| へいきなへいき | unconcerned, calmdictionary form: 平気平気な顔をする = to act as if nothing were wrong. | N2 |
| こいしいこいしい | missed, longed fordictionary form: 恋しいExpresses yearning for someone or something absent, not only romantic love. | N2 |
| 申しわけがございませんでしたもうしわけない | I am very sorry (formal apology)dictionary form: 申し訳ないございません is the very polite form; the sparrow speaks with great courtesy. | N2 |
| 引きとめましたひきとめる | to urge (someone) to stay, to hold backdictionary form: 引き止める | N2 |
| せっかくせっかく | kindly offered; since (you) have gone to the troubleせっかくだが = 'it's kind of you, but…' (declining); せっかくだから = 'since it's offered, I'll accept'. | N2 |
| すまないすまない | it's too much; I feel bad (accepting this)dictionary form: 済まないPlain form of すみません, expressing both apology and gratitude. | N2 |
| 背負わせてせおう | to carry on one's backdictionary form: 背負うHere causative 背負わせてもらう: to have someone put it on one's back. | N2 |
| ぶつぶつぶつぶつ | grumbling, mutteringOnomatopoeia; ぶつぶつ言う = to grumble. | N2 |
| さっそくさっそく | at once, straight awaydictionary form: 早速 | N2 |
Plot summary
Show the full summary (contains spoilers)
A kindly old man keeps a pet sparrow. While he is out, it eats his wife's laundry starch, so she cuts out its tongue and chases it away. The next morning the old man searches for it and finds its little red house in a bamboo thicket. The sparrow apologizes and treats him to a feast and dancing. As he leaves, it offers him a heavy basket or a light one. He modestly takes the light one, and at home it turns out to be full of treasure. His greedy wife scolds him and hurries off into the night to find the sparrow. She refuses to sit down, demands a gift, and grabs the heavy basket. When she opens it on the road, monsters burst out and torment her. She runs home terrified, and the old man gently tells her that cruelty and greed never pay.
About the author
Kusuyama Masao (1884–1950) was a Japanese writer, editor and translator who did much to shape children's literature in modern Japan. He studied at Waseda University and was also active in theatre, working as a critic and translator of Western drama. He is best remembered for his retellings of Japanese folk tales and legends for young readers. His retellings are written in clear, rhythmic Japanese meant to be read aloud.