The old man now wished that he had said nothing about the big box,
but it was too late; the greedy old woman, not contented with the
good luck which had so unexpectedly befallen them and which she so
little deserved, made up her mind, if possible, to get more.

Early the next morning she got up and made the old man describe the
way to the sparrow's house. When he saw what was in her mind he
tried to keep her from going, but it was useless. She would not
listen to one word he said. It is strange that the old woman did not
feel ashamed of going to see the sparrow after the cruel way she had
treated her in cutting off her tongue in a fit of rage. But her
greed to get the big box made her forget everything else. It did not
even enter her thoughts that the sparrows might be angry with her--
as, indeed, they were--and might punish her for what she had done.

Ever since the Lady Sparrow had returned home in the sad plight in
which they had first found her, weeping and bleeding from the mouth,
her whole family and relations had done little else but speak of the
cruelty of the old woman. "How could she," they asked each other,
"inflict such a heavy punishment for such a trifling offense as that
of eating some rice-paste by mistake?" They all loved the old man
who was so kind and good and patient under all his troubles, but the
old woman they hated, and they determined, if ever they had the
chance, to punish her as she deserved. They had not long to wait.

After walking for some hours the old woman had at last found the
bamboo grove which she had made her husband carefully describe, and
now she stood before it crying out:

"Where is the tongue-cut sparrow's house? Where is the tongue-cut