Once upon a time, in a certain village of Japan, there was a very mean old woman. Whenever she saw anyone having something, she would want that. She would say, “If you don’t want this, would you let me have it?” Saying this, she would carry it off. One day, it so happened that a neighbour’s cat caught a rat. It ate all of it and left the tail. People saw the tail lying and decided to throw it away. Then, one of them jokingly said, “I am sure that the old woman won’t ask for this at least.” Gossip about someone and the person appears and so the old woman appeared. When she saw the rat’s tail, she said, “If you don’t need this, would you let me have it?” As soon as people heard this, they were shocked. One of them asked her, “What will you do with this?” She replied, “I will make a covering for my drill.”
The Hoarder
