The Mountain Rabbit's Wish

🍊47th Three Prompts (Japanese Folktales)
🎈Prompt 1: "The Mountain Rabbit's Wish"
🐾Prompt 2: "The Wolf and the Spring Flower"
⏳Prompt 3: "The Greedy Rich Man and the Vanished Gold"

Prompt 4: Please write a world imagined from the illustration (kamishibai style).

🌸Foreword

Once upon a time, on a certain mountain, there lived a rather unusual rabbit.

That rabbit was always asking others to do everything for him.

📖Main Text

Chapter 1: The Mountain Rabbit's Wish

Once upon a time, in a certain place, there lived a mountain rabbit who made wishes for everything.

If he was hungry, he would wish, "Please give me something to eat,"

and if he had trouble finding a place to sleep, he would wish, "Please find me a place to sleep."

Because he asked people for everything, eventually, no one would listen to the mountain rabbit's wishes anymore.

The troubled mountain rabbit decided to try going to the neighboring village.

There, no one listened to the mountain rabbit's story, and everyone was working silently.

Seeing that, the mountain rabbit also decided to try working.

He woke up early in the morning, went to the mountain to gather firewood, sold it, and received money.

With that money, he bought a rice ball.

When he took a bite—it was so delicious, that tears welled up and spilled over.

The mountain rabbit thought.

"Is something I worked for myself this delicious?"

From then on, the mountain rabbit began to work until it got dark.

Little by little, the money added up, but
the rabbit did not live extravagantly, choosing instead to live modestly.

And then one day,
the rabbit returned to its original village.

With the money it had saved, the mountain rabbit
built a well for the village.

The villagers
no longer had to go all the way to the distant river to fetch water,
and they were very grateful.

From then on, the mountain rabbit
used its money to help
anyone else in other villages who was in trouble.

Before anyone knew it, the mountain rabbit
was no longer a rabbit who made wishes,
but a rabbit who granted them.

And they all lived happily ever after.

🌼 Afterword

A wish
is not just something to have someone else grant for you.

When you grant it with your own hands,
the joy becomes even greater.

And when you act for the sake of someone else,
that kindness continues on to the next person.