The Husband of the Rat's Daughter
Once
upon a time there lived in Japan a rat and his wife who came of an old and
noble race, and had one daughter, the loveliest girl in all the rat world. Her
parents were very proud of her, and spared no pains to teach her all she ought
to know. There was not another young lady in the whole town who was as clever
as she was in gnawing through the hardest wood, or who could drop from such a
height on to a bed, or run away so fast if anyone was heard coming. Great
attention, too, was paid to her personal appearance, and her skin shone like
satin, while her teeth were as white as pearls, and beautifully pointed.
Of
course, with all these advantages, her parents expected her to make a brilliant
marriage, and, as she grew up, they began to look round for a suitable husband.
But
here a difficulty arose. The father was a rat from the tip of his nose to the
end of his tail, outside as well as in, and desired that his daughter should
wed among her own people. She had no lack of lovers, but her father's secret
hopes rested on a fine young rat, with moustaches which almost swept the
ground, whose family was still nobler and more ancient than his own. Unluckily,
the mother had other views for her precious child. She was one of those people
who always despise their own family and surroundings, and take pleasure in
thinking that they themselves are made of finer material than the rest of the
world. 'HER daughter should never marry a mere rat,' she declared, holding her
head high. 'With her beauty and talents she had a right to look for someone a
little better than THAT.'
So
she talked, as mothers will, to anyone that would listen to her. What the girl
thought about the matter nobody knew or cared--it was not the fashion in the
rat world.
Many
were the quarrels which the old rat and his wife had upon the subject, and
sometimes they bore on their faces certain marks which looked as if they had
not kept to words only.
'Reach
up to the stars is MY motto,' cried the lady one day, when she was in a greater
passion than usual. 'My daughter's beauty places her higher than anything upon
earth,' she cried; 'and I am certainly not going to accept a son-in-law who is
beneath her.'
'Better
offer her in marriage to the sun,' answered her husband impatiently. 'As far as
I know there is nothing greater than he.'
'Well,
I WAS thinking of it,' replied the wife, 'and as you are of the same mind, we
will pay him a visit to-morrow.'
So
the next morning, the two rats, having spent hours in making themselves smart,
set out to see the sun, leading their daughter between them.
The
journey took some time, but at length they came to the golden palace where the
sun lived.
'Noble
king,' began the mother, 'behold our daughter! She is so beautiful that she is
above everything in the whole world. Naturally, we wish for a son-in-law who,
on his side, is greater than all. Therefore we have come to you.'
'I
feel very much flattered,' replied the sun, who was so busy that he had not the
least wish to marry anybody. 'You do me great honour by your proposal. Only, in
one point you are mistaken, and it would be wrong of me to take advantage of
your ignorance. There is something greater than I am, and that is the cloud.
Look!' And as he spoke a cloud spread itself over the sun's face, blotting out
his rays.
'Oh,
well, we will speak to the cloud,' said the mother. And turning to the cloud
she repeated her proposal.
'Indeed
I am unworthy of anything so charming,' answered the cloud; 'but you make a
mistake again in what you say. There is one thing that is even more powerful
than I, and that is the wind. Ah, here he comes, you can see for yourself.'
And
she DID see, for catching up the cloud as he passed, he threw it on the other
side of the sky. Then, tumbling father, mother and daughter down to the earth
again, he paused for a moment beside them, his foot on an old wall.
When
she had recovered her breath, the mother began her little speech once more.
'The
wall is the proper husband for your daughter,' answered the wind, whose home
consisted of a cave, which he only visited when he was not rushing about
elsewhere; 'you can see for yourself that he is greater than I, for he has
power to stop me in my flight.' And the mother, who did not trouble to conceal
her wishes, turned at once to the wall.
Then
something happened which was quite unexpected by everyone.
'I
won't marry that ugly old wall, which is as old as my grandfather,' sobbed the
girl, who had not uttered one word all this time. 'I would have married the
sun, or the cloud, or the wind, because it was my duty, although I love the
handsome young rat, and him only. But that horrid old wall--I would sooner
die!'
And
the wall, rather hurt in his feelings, declared that he had no claim to be the
husband of so beautiful a girl.
'It
is quite true,' he said, 'that I can stop the wind who can part the clouds who
can cover the sun; but there is someone who can do more than all these, and
that is the rat. It is the rat who passes through me, and can reduce me to
powder, simply with his teeth. If, therefore, you want a son-in-law who is
greater than the whole world, seek him among the rats.'
'Ah,
what did I tell you?' cried the father. And his wife, though for the moment
angry at being beaten, soon thought that a rat son-in-law was what she had
always desired.
So
all three returned happily home, and the wedding was celebrated three days
after.
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The Brown Fairy Book, by Andrew Lang
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