1. The Rolling Rice Cake A Story From Japan

2. An old man was going to cut wood
in the forest. His wife made lovely
rice cakes for him.
“Thank you,” the old man said.
“You make the best rice cakes ever!”

3. After the old man had cut a lot
of wood, he felt a little hungry.
He took a rice cake out of his bag,
but it fell out of his hand and rolled
down a hole in the ground.
He looked down the hole to see
if he could see his rice cake.

4. He was surprised to hear a pretty
song coming from the hole.
“Rolling rice cake is so nice,
roll a cake to your friends the mice!”
It was a family of mice!
“Sing again!” the old man said.

5. He rolled another one of his
rice cakes down the hole and
listened. He could hear the mice
nibbling on his rice cakes.
The old man moved closer to the
hole because he wanted to hear
the singing better.

6. He fell into the hole and rolled all
the way to the bottom! At the
bottom of the hole, he saw a whole
family of mice looking at him while
nibbling on his rice cakes. “Rolling
old man is so nice, he shared
rice cakes with the mice!”

7. “Since you were so nice to us and
shared your rice cakes, we have a
special gift for you!” It was a little
bag of rice. “Thank you!” the old
man said. “Now, I must get back to
my wife. Good-bye!”

8. The old man tried to climb out of
the hole, but it was too steep.
He turned back to the mice and
asked, “Can you help me out of
this hole?”
The mice sang this song:

9. “Rolling old man is so nice,
we can help you get back home.”
Then, hundreds of mice came to
help roll the old man up, and out
of the hole! The old man took the
rice bag home and gave the
rice bag to his wife,

10. His wife used all the rice in the bag
to make some more rice cakes.
When she looked into the bag again,
she saw that it was still full of rice!
No matter how many rice cakes she
made, there was always more rice
in the bag!

11. The old man said,
“That must have been a magic bag
of rice that the mice gave me!
So every day, the wife made the
best rice cakes and gave them to
her husband.

12. And every day, the old man took rice
cakes to the mice and rolled them
down the hole, just so he could
hear his friends sing their song
every day!