横浜こぼれ話は筆者の佐藤栄次が随筆や意見や考えを書いておりますので、一度見に来てください、

 

A snake golden ball

Grateful Crane
Long long ago, an old man found a small snake on his way home from a mountain, caught between the crotch of a tree, suffering.
“Are you all right? I’ll help you now.” and he came home with the snake in his basket.
A few months later, the snake was so big that he couldn’t find any suitable place to keep in his house.
He said to his wife.
“We can’t bring him up in this small house any more. What shall we do?”
On the next day, they found the snake disappearing , which left a golden ball.
“What is this golden ball?” said the old wife.
When he stroked the ball, it produced a gold coin.
Not only the old couple but a dog and a cat living there had delicious meals every day because of the gold coin.
One day they had the golden ball stolen by a thief who heard of it.
“That was a memento of the snake.” said the man, discouraged.
Hearing this, the dog and the cat decided to go looking for the golden ball.
When they came to a river, the dog, following a faint smell, said to the cat.
“The house on the other side of the river is dubious.”
The dog swam across the river with the cat on his back.
When they reached the house, the cat called the rats in the house and ordered them,
“Find and bring the golden ball unless you want to be eaten by me.”
The rats, so afraid, looked for it desperately everywhere in the house until at last they found the golden ball.
The dog swam back across the river to his house with the cat on his back.
But in the middle of the river, they saw a big fish jump up on the river.
The cat was so surprised that it opened the mouth and lost the ball into the river.
When the dog and the cat, discouraged, were walking along the riverside, they saw some fishermen drawing a net.
The cat quickly stole the biggest fish in the net and held it in his mouth and ran back to the old couple’s house, followed by the dog.
“Are you alive? We were anxious about you because you disappeared suddenly.”
“We found the strange golden ball, but lost it in the river.”
“We don’t care. You came home safe. It’s the happiest.” said the old man.
The cat said to the old woman, putting the fish on the earth floor.
“I caught this fish in the river. Please eat it for a dinner.”
“It looks delicious. I’ll cut it at once.”
When she cut the stomach of the fish with a kitchen knife, she found the golden ball there.
The old man, the old wife, the dog and the cat had a happy life again.

The end