むかしむかし、ある山あいの村に、貧しいけれど心優しいおじいさんとおばあさんが住んでいました。明日は大みそかだというのに、二人にはお餅を買うお金さえなかったのです。
Long, long ago, in a village in the mountains, there lived a poor but kind-hearted old man and woman. Even though tomorrow was New Year's Eve, the two of them didn't have so much as the money to buy rice cakes.