Japanese Horror Stories
Suzume Shintakiri
Shitakiri Suzume, ukiyo-e by Katsushika Hokusai.
Shitakiri Suzume ( ⁇ , The Church Bird that Cuts His Tongue) or translated as Cut Pipit Tongue[1] is a Japanese fable about a kind-hearted old man, his greedy and cruel wife, and a wounded sparrow. The theme of the story is greed, friendship, and envy.
The story has been translated over and over again into English, among them by A.B. Mitford (1871), William Elliot Griffis (1880), David Thomson as volume 2 of the Japanese Fairy Tale Series of Hasegawa Takejiro (1885), Yei Theodora Ozaki (1903), and Teresa Peirce Williston (1904).[[1904)2]
In 1897, Andrew Lang put it in the collection The Pink Fairy Book under the title The Sparrow with the Slit Tongue.[3]
Plot
A kind grandfather helps a wounded sparrow, and makes it a pet bird. One day, the sparrow became very hungry because Grandma did not feed him. He then ate the glue from the stain made by his grandmother to replace the sliding door coating paper. Grandma was so angry that the tongue of the sparrow was cut. The sparrow then flew away. Grandpa was sad and looked for him up to the mountain. On the mountain of sparrow nests, the arrival of the grandfather was greeted in great numbers by a flock of sparrows. Some of them serve food for grandfather, and some hold dance performances. When it was time to go home, grandfather was given two choices of gifts that he had to choose one of: a small basket or a large basket. Grandpa was old so chose a small basket because it was light. The little basket he took home. When it opened at home, the contents of the small basket turned out to be gold coins. The greedy grandmother regretted her husband's choice. According to him, if there is a choice of large baskets, then that is what must be taken. Grandma then went to the mountain of sparrows because she wanted to obtain more treasures. Forcibly removed a large basket from the sparrow house. On the way home, the big basket was opened by my grandmother. It was filled with yokai ghosts, insects, lizards, wasps, toads, and snakes. Grandma fainted from surprise.
STORY
As with Mount Kachi-kachi, the Battle of Monkeys and Crabs, and other Japanese folklore, Shitakiri Suzume's original story is viewed as too cruel. While searching for a sparrow nest, grandfather wondered to some of the people he met on the way. Grandpa was asked to drink horse blood and cow urine before his question was answered.[4] In the refined version, this part is replaced with used water bathing cows. At the end of the story, the greedy grandmother becomes converted after being advised by grandfather. Not only have the cruel parts been removed, the story also ends happily.[4]
Beginning in the Meiji period, parts of the story considered outrageous in folklore were removed. This means that the child can enjoy the story while learning about virtue, evil, and revenge.[4]
The sparrow and the animal's return are also themes in Koshiore Suzume's story of Uji Shuii Monogatari. Grandmother treated a sparrow whose waist was broken. As a token of gratitude, the sparrows gave pumpkin seeds. After planting, from the inside of the fruit turned out rice as well as gold and silver. An envious neighbor's grandmother deliberately injured a sparrow in order to be cared for and obtain pumpkin seeds. Out of the pumpkin came the serpent and wasp that killed him.
In 1945, Osamu Dazai wrote Otogizoshi, which included a parody of Shitakiri Suzume's story.[5]
