Let's read the story of Poverty God and Fortune God! / Japanese Learning Support LLC
Let's read the story of the God of Poverty and the God of Fortune!
Why not try reading Japanese folk tales in Japanese?
Today, I would like to introduce a story called "The God of Poverty and the God of Fortune."
So, what kind of story is it? Let's take a look!
"The God of Poverty and the God of Fortune"
In a certain village there lived a very poor couple.
Being poor means having no money.
The couple worked day after day, but they couldn't make any money.
Husband: "Oh my, why do I have so little money? I want to drink alcohol, and I want to buy you a new kimono, what should I do..."
Wife: "There's no other way. Let's work hard!"
One New Year's Eve, his wife brought some rice cakes to the altar and said,
Wife: "I was given a little bit of money, so I made some rice cakes. Please enjoy them."
Then, from somewhere, I heard a cry.
Wife: "Oh? Who's crying?"
The poverty god appeared from behind the Shinto altar.
Poverty God: "Waah, waah."
Husband: "I see. So we had poverty in our house. That's why we didn't have any money."
Wife: "I see. But why are you crying?"
Binbougami: "The truth is, the God of Fortune is coming here soon. Then I have to leave here. I won't have anywhere else to go, so I'll end up homeless..."
Husband: "That's so sad."
Wife: "If that god of fortune comes, why not just chase him away?"
Binbougami: "Hmm, I wonder if I can do that... I'm so hungry right now, I don't have the strength."
Husband: "You should have said something sooner. Why don't you try our rice cakes?"
With that, the couple gave all of their remaining rice cakes to the poverty god.
Binbougami: "Whew, that was delicious!"
Then the God of Fortune arrived.
God of Fortune: "Now that I'm here, you can rest easy. I will bestow good fortune on this house."
Poverty God: "I will not give this house to you! I am the god of this house! Both the husband and wife want me to stay!"
God of Fortune: "What?! You want the Poverty God to be here?!"
Poverty God: "Yeah, yeah, just get out! Ugh!"
The God of Poverty threw the God of Fortune away.
God of Fortune: "Wh-w-what's this?! I'm never coming to this house again!"
With that, the God of Fortune ran away.
Poverty God: "Okay! But, sir, are you sure you want to do this? If I stay in this house, I'll be poor forever."
Husband: "It's okay because I'll work a lot more. What's that?"
There was a glittering magic mallet lying in front of the house.
* The magic mallet... a mysterious tool that can grant any wish
Owner: "Oh dear! This is a magic mallet. It must have been dropped by the God of Fortune."
Poverty God: "Oh! With that, I could become the God of Fortune!"
Wife: "That's definitely true!!"
Poverty God: "Okay, I'll grant you any wish you want. What do you want?"
Husband: "Well, I'll give you some rice, some sake, and a kimono for my wife."
Binbougami: "Is that all? I could give you so much more."
Wife: "Even if you have too much, you can't use it all ."
Thus, the couple received rice and clothes, and lived happily ever after with the poverty god who had become a god of fortune.
How was it.
It was a happy ending where the poverty god became the god of fortune in the end.
Have you ever experienced good things happening when you have a kind attitude?
Now, I would like to introduce one grammar point that came up in the story.
[~thing]
Wife: "Even if you have too much, you can't use it all ."
Finally, the god of poverty asked his wife if she didn't need any more when she could have more, and she replied:
How do you use this "~mono"?
Learn the meaning and usage and practice.
"~mono" is used when you want to give a reason, like "~kara" or "~no de".
So, when your wife says, "Even if you have too much, you can't use it all ," she means, "Even if you have a lot of food or money, you can't use it all, so you don't need it."
By the way, "can't use it all" means that there is so much that you can't use it all up and some is left over.
"~mono" is strongly associated with being used by women.
You can also say "~mon" which is a more casual form of "~mono."
This is often used by children and young people to give a reason or as an excuse when they are scolded.
Example sentences using "mono" and "mon"
Example 1 A: My child starts crying as soon as he has a small fall.
B: They're still kids. Crying is their job.
Example 2 A: We agreed to meet at the station at 1 o'clock today, but it's too late!
B: Sorry, sorry. The train was delayed.
Example 3 A: Why aren't you eating? Aren't you hungry?
B: I just ate some sweets.
Did you understand how to use "-mono"?
Because this grammar is used at the end of a sentence, it cannot be used in the middle of a sentence, like "from ~" or "because ~".
If you want to include the result, you have to say it in two sentences.
That's all for today's blog!
See you in the next blog!
