Once upon a time a poor old farmer and his wife worked diligently all year long to save some money to celebrate the New Year. Alas, the day approached, and the couple had saved nothing.

"I know," the old woman said. "We'll sell my kimono."

"Impossible," the farmer said. "It's your wedding kimono."

"Yes," said the woman, "but rice cakes will give us good fortune for the whole year. Sometimes we must make sacrifices."

Reluctantly the farmer agreed, and the next day, despite the falling snow, he set off for the village.

He soon passed by a woman walking in the other direction. She carried a basket of hats, and tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Dear woman," the farmer asked, "what is wrong?"

"Oh," she wept, "I went to the market, but no one bought my hats. On New Year's Day I marry, and I hoped to buy a kimono to wear on my wedding day." i5≈∧ㄩｗWＷ.FａｉＲy-ｔａＬＥ．INｆOヮù

When the old man heard this, he immediately offered to trade his wife's wedding kimono for the hats.

"Bless you," the woman said happily, and she handed him the basket of hats. She held the kimono to her chest and said, "It is beautiful, and when I wear it I will think of you and your wife."

"I don't know what I'll do with these hats, but my wife will surely understand," he said to himself, and with that he began to walk home.

Upon returning home, the old man hung his head, ashamed.

"I am afraid we have no rice cakes," and he told her the whole story. But when he was finished, he saw that his wife was smiling. "You aren't angry?" he asked.

"How could I be angry at such a generous man?" she asked.

When they awoke the next morning, they found on their doorstep an enormous rice cake, left to them by the woman preparing to get married, a cake large enough to ensure a wondrous New Year's Day, and a wonderful beginning to the new year.