Japanese Culture: Omusubi Kororin

Omusubi Kororin - Rolling Rice Balls



Once upon a time there lived an old man and his wife, both of them very kind-hearted. One day, the old man set off into the mountains to gather firewood. As lunchtime came, the old man opened his lunchbox, and was about to eat a rice ball when he inadvertently dropped it onto the ground.
The rice ball went a-rolling, and "pop!" it rolled into a hole on the ground. And from the hole, there came a little song, sung by cute little voices, saying, "Omusubi kororin, sutton-ton!" (The rice ball came a-rolling, rollin'-rollin'-rollin'!) Wondering, the old man took another of his rice balls, and he rolled it into the hole, this time on purpose.
And there came the song again, "Omusubi kororin, sutton-ton!" (The rice ball came a-rolling, rollin'-rollin'-rollin'!)
"Now this is very interesting!"
Next, the old man sent the lunch box a-rolling. And to his amazement, there came the song, "Jyubako kororin, Sutton-ton!" (The lunch box came a-rolling, rollin'-rollin'-rollin'!)



The old man, having nothing else to send a-rolling, jumped into the hole himself at last.



"Ojiisan kororin, Sutton-ton!" (The old man came a-rolling, rollin'-rollin'-rollin'!) The song was being sung by a number of little mice.　The little mice spoke in perfect unison, saying, "Sir, thank you for those tasty rice balls. Let us treat you to a feast in return for your kindness."
The mice worked busily, pounding rice into rice cakes, and preparing a sumptuous feast. They served the old man with a wonderful feast, and he ate till his belly was full.
When the old man was about to leave, the mice said to him, "Sir, we would like you to take a gift home" and presented him with a choice of two boxes. "Which one would you like, the big box or the little box?"
The old man replied, "Well, I'm old, and only strong enough to carry the little box, so I'll take the small one if you don't mind."



The old man went home, and opened the tiny box, and found it was full of gold coins. The greedy old man next door heard about this, and decided to go to the mountains, too.
He found the hole, and rolled a rice ball into the hole, and he heard, "Omusubi kororin, Sutton-ton!" (The rice ball came a-rolling, rollin'-rollin'-rollin'!)
"So far so good. I'll go down the hole at once."
The greedy old man rolled into the hole.The mice said, "Sir, thank you for the tasty rice ball. We would like to give you a box in return for your kindness."



The greedy old man wanted to have both the big box and the little one, so he decided to scare the mice away by making a sound like a cat.
"Meaow! Meeeeeaaaaaooooowwww!!!"



At that very moment, the walls of the hole caved in, and the ceiling came thundering down, nearly squashing the greedy old man.
He crawled out of the hole barely alive, and scampered home, running for dear life.
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Source: NHK World Radio Japan

http://www.dubtopia.eu/japanese-culture/omusubi-kororin