Woodpecker and Sparrow

Long,long ago, there lived two sisters.
The name of elder one was Kitsutsuki, or woodpecker and younger one was Suzume, or sparrow.
The elder sister was selfish and avarice while the younger one was so kind and a hard worker.
One day, they went to a big shop of clothes to buy them.
The master of the shop recommended them to make kimonos by themselves and they bought white cloths.
They sewed kimonos very hard from morning through night.
When they were about to dye the cloth, they received a letter saying that their father in their native home was very ill,
so they should return soon.
The younger sister wanted to return at once.
But the elder sister said she would never return until she finished a beautiful kimono and she was absorbed in her kimono.

So the younger sister was going to come back home alone.
When she crossed the mountains, rivers and valleys, her white clothes turned dirty.
But she at last returned home while her father was still alive.
Several days after her father died, the elder sister in a beautiful kimono came back home.
The younger sister who watched the elder sister who was proud of her kimono, felt very sad.
Then a voice came out from somewhere:
“Kitsutusuki, you prefered kimono to your father, so you can always wear a beautiful kimono, but you must eat worms, pecking the trees.
Suzume, you were very kind to your father.
Your clothes became very dirty but you can eat everything including the grains in the rice fields.”
As soon as the voice finished, they became a woodpecker and a sparrow.
Now beautiful woodpeckers eat worms pecking the trees in the forests while dirty sparrows eat everything in the fields.

The end