THE TONGUE-CUT SPARROW.Long, long ago in Japan there lived an old man and his wife. The
old man was a good, kind-hearted, hard-working old fellow, but his
wife was a regular cross-patch, who spoiled the happiness of her
home by her scolding tongue. She was always grumbling about
something from morning to night. The old man had for a long time
ceased to take any notice of her crossness. He was out most of the
day at work in the fields, and as he had no child, for his
amusement when he came home, he kept a tame sparrow. He loved the
little bird just as much as if she had been his child.
When he came back at night after his hard day's work in the open
air it was his only pleasure to pet the sparrow, to talk to her and
to teach her little tricks, which she learned very quickly. The
