Nezumi No Yomeiri (The Marriage of a Mouse)

OTŌSAN AND OKAŌSAN NEZUMI, which means Father and Mother Mouse, lived in a storehouse in Japan. They possessed rice and were very rich.

They were also very proud of their beautiful daughter, and no wonder, for she was white and soft and furry all over. She had bright glistening eyes and the most delicate pink nose. She looked so sweet and pretty in a mousy way that young male mice from near and far came to ask for her hand.

But her parents Otōsan and Okāsan Nezumi were not satisfied to have a clumsy ordinary mouse as her husband.

“That can’t be—no ordinary fellow is worthy of our beautiful daughter,” they cried. “We must think of someone special. We’ll give her to the most powerful person in Japan.”

So they looked around and lo, up in the sky they saw the warm, kind sun beaming down on them!

“Why not the all-powerful sun?” they cried, delighted at the idea.

So they dressed their daughter in her bridal attire. Never was there such a desirable and beautiful mouse-bride as she.

Now I don’t know how they did it, but the three traveled and traveled and at last reached the sun.

The father, bowing low, said: “Gracious and kind sun, you are the most powerful person on earth. Behold our daughter—whom we wish to give to you as your bride.”

The sun continued smiling down on them, and he said: “You are kind, and I am thankful to you for your proposal, but I am not the most powerful being on earth. There is someone else.”

Otōsan and Okāsan Nezumi were surprised: “Who can this be?”

“It is Kumo, the cloud. I would like to beam and beam on the earth and make it warm, but when the cloud comes out I am helpless.”

“Well, well,” said Otōsan and Okāsan Nezumi, staring at each other, “Naruhodo, it is so—it is so!”

So they bowed and, taking their daughter, visited the cloud.

“Kumo-san, Kumo-san. You are the most powerful being on this earth. Please take our daughter as your bride.”

“Thank you for thinking of me,” replied the cloud, “but there is someone more powerful than I. I am quite sure of myself until Kaze, the wind, comes. Then I am blown into little bits.”

“Naruhodo—quite true, quite true,” cried Otōsan and Okāsan Nezumi.

They then took their daughter to Kaze, the wind.

“Kaze-san, Kaze-san. You are the most powerful person in Japan. We have brought our daughter for your bride.”

“Thank you, dear Otōsan and Okāsan Nezumi,” replied the wind, “but I am not the most powerful. I blow and blow but when I come across a strong wall I can do nothing.”

“Oh dear, that’s quite true,” cried the parent mice in despair. “We had better visit the wall.”

Well, they took their daughter to the wall and asked him to take their daughter as his bride.

“Thanks,” was the reply, “but there is someone else. I try to be hard and square, but when Nezumi, the mouse, nibbles at me, I am helpless. Holes grow in me.”

By this time the poor daughter was so tired that her fine whiskers trembled, and her eyes filled with tears.

“Dear Otōsan and Okāsan, I would rather be the bride of our neighbor, Chūsuke, though he is just a common mouse.”

But the parents had changed their minds.

“Indeed no! He is no common mouse. Only a few days ago he gnawed a big hole through Kabe-san, the wall. Why he is the most powerful person in Japan!”

And they were so proud of Chūsuke, the common mouse living next door, that they gave their beautiful daughter to him as his bride.

They had a wonderful wedding and the young bride and bridegroom lived happily ever after.

They took good care of Otōsan and Okāsan Nezumi. They also had many children, and their family grew and prospered.