This happened a long time ago. An old man and an old woman lived in the same mountain village. They worked all day, but their wealth did not increase.
One day in the spring, an old man went to the mountains to collect brushwood. He walked and walked until he fell into the thicket of the forest. The old man stopped to rest. Suddenly he hears someone shouting:
- On you! Get it! Get more! And then another voice was heard: “Well, wait, you worthless thing!” I will take revenge on you! The old man was surprised and looked around - there was no one! He then decided to look in the grass. He parted the thickets and stopped dead in his tracks. He looks and can’t believe his eyes: two mice are engaged in sumo wrestling! One mouse is fat and fat, and the other is skinny and skinny! The fat mouse leaned on the skinny one and shouted:
- On you! Get it! Take that! The old man took a closer look at the mice, and whistled in surprise: “These are miracles!” he thinks. “No way, this skinny mouse is the same one that lives in my house. And I know the fat one - it will come from the house of a rich neighbor.”
The old man hurried home to tell the old woman about the mouse sumo. “It seems to me,” said the old woman, “that it’s not for nothing that our mouse is so skinny.” You and I live in poverty, so this mouse is a match for us!
“Come on, old woman,” the old man suggested, “let’s try to feed her a little.” Maybe she will have more strength?
The old woman collected the remaining rice flour and baked a golden cake. The old man put a cake in front of the mouse hole. The next morning he looks - there is no cake, and not a single crumb left.
The old people rejoiced: “Finally,” they say, “our poor mouse has eaten its fill!” Now, for sure, she will have more strength for sumo wrestling!
The next day the old man and the old woman went to the mountains. The old woman really wanted to watch the mice wrestle in sumo.
They hid behind a tree and began to wait. Suddenly they hear a fat mouse shouting:
- Get it! Get more! And the skinny woman suddenly screams back at her: “Well, wait with me!” Let's see who wins! Get it yourself! The skinny mouse threw the fat one onto the grass. “Give me a break,” the fat mouse begged. She caught her breath and asked: “What kind of miracle happened to you, sister?” Yesterday I was able to defeat you without difficulty, but today you seem to have become stronger?
“What’s true is true,” agreed the skinny mouse. “You see, sister, you don’t understand me: you live in a rich house, and I live in a poor one.” It's not often that I get to eat enough. Well, the owners decided to feed me - they put a rice cake in the hole. I think that now every evening there will be a treat waiting for me at home.
- How I love rice cakes! — the fat mouse sighed. - And no one treats me with them at all! Listen, sister, if you could bring me a piece to try.
The skinny mouse shook her head: “No,” he said, “I can’t.” It’s no good for me to carry rice cakes from my house, there’s nothing to eat there anyway. I can't feed you for nothing.
The fat mouse thought for a moment, and then asked: “What if it’s not for free?” My owner apparently has a lot of money. But money is not rice cakes, you won’t enjoy them. Let's change! I’ll give you a coin, and you’ll give me a piece of flatbread! The skinny mouse was happy:
“Okay,” he says, “we’ll do that.” The old man and the old woman heard about the mouse’s agreement and hurried home. The old woman borrowed rice flour from her neighbors and baked cakes. And then she took out red fabric and sewed two belts - fundoshi, which all real sumo wrestlers wear.
Finally, evening came. A fat mouse came to visit a skinny one. I saw fundoshi and was surprised:
— Are we going to eat these rags too? - asks. - What are you talking about?! - the skinny mouse laughed. — And you also consider yourself a sumo wrestler! These are loincloths, called fundoshi. In them, you and I will immediately look like real wrestlers.
The mice dressed themselves in fundoshi and began to eat the treat. The fat mouse ate and said:
“I brought the coin, as agreed.” Take it quickly. The skinny mouse took the coin and put it on the old man’s shrine. The next day, the old man and the old woman went to the mountains again. We looked around - no mice! If you took a closer look, no, you can see the red fundoshi in the grass! Mice rose from the grass - well, neither give nor take - sumo wrestling champions!
“Get ready for the parade of sumo wrestlers,” commands the fat mouse. “Get started!” - the skinny woman echoes her. An old man and an old woman look at a mouse sumo and laugh until they cry.
- You won’t defeat me again! - screams the skinny mouse. - Get it! - And you can’t defeat me! - the fat woman screams. - And you get it! It’s been like that ever since. The fat mouse began to visit the skinny one in the evenings, and regularly carried out the mouse’s persuasion. When he arrives, he will definitely bring a coin from the rich man’s house. The skinny mouse will treat her to a flatbread and place a coin on the goddess.
Little by little the old man and the old woman became rich. Never again did they know need. And whenever we had a free moment, we immediately went to the mountains to look at the mouse sumo and laugh.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru