■ あらすじ　
　 昔、正直だが貧しい兄と不誠実でケチだが裕福な弟がおり、
兄は弟から虫食いの古い種籾<たねもみ>と孵化<ふか>しそうもない蚕<かいこ>の卵を貰った。予想外に兄の蚕がよく育ったことを妬んだ
弟は兄の蚕を裂くが、かえって蚕は増え、古い籾も良く育ち豊作と
なった。作業の合間に眠った兄は、夢で子どもたちが岩の下にある
不思議な小槌を振って様々な物を出し、また元の場所に戻すのを見て、目覚めて傍らの岩の下から小槌を持ち帰り、裕福になった。兄を羨んで弟も岩の傍で寝たふりをしたが、小槌が無いと知った子どもたちに鼻を引っ張られ、鼻は背丈まで伸びた。兄に小槌で鼻を戻してもらった弟は反省して行いを改めた。

■ Outline of this story
　Once upon a time, there were two brothers, the elder one honest but poor, and the younger one dishonest and stingy but rich. The younger one gave the elder one some worm-eaten musty seed-rice and silkworm eggs that seemed to have no prospects for hatching. But to his surprise, the eggs hatched and the elder brother raised many productive silkworms from them. Out of jealousy, the younger brother cut the worms in half, but this only caused them to multiply. Meanwhile, even the elder brother's old seed-rice grew well and produced a rich harvest. When the elder brother took a nap between chores, in his dreams there appeared children that removed a mallet from under a big stone and got all sorts of things by swinging it before putting it back under the stone. Awakening from the dream, he found a mallet under a nearby stone and later became rich by using it as the children did. In his envy, the younger brother pretended to sleep near the same stone, but the children, who knew the mallet was no longer there, merely pulled on his nose until it was as long as he was tall. After the elder brother used the mallet to change the length back to normal, the younger one repented of his ways.

Note
　This story has no particular precedent, and is thought to be the creation of Mrs. T.H. James. It deftly incorporates elements from life in rural Japan, including seed-rice, silkworms and so on.