Once upon a time, a woodcutter lived with his wife in a small mountain village. They lived a happy life as they worked hard and loved each other. One problem was that the wife was too talkative. She liked to nose around for anything and anybody in the neighborhood, and always spread rumors and gossip in the village.

One day, the husband went to the mountains to cut some trees. While working, he found something shiny in the bushes. To his surprise, it was a lump of gold. How lucky he was! The woodcutter was overjoyed by the unexpected fortune. He just couldn’t wait to take the gold nugget home and tell his wife the good news. He stopped working and was ready to rush home. But he hesitated for a moment. He recalled his chatty wife. If he told her about the treasure he had found, she would almost certainly brag about it all over the town. Worse yet, the rumor would prompt a thief to break into his house to steal the gold nugget. All these imaginary scenes flitted through his mind. He shook his head vigorously. He didn’t really want to let that happen. After a lot of thinking, the woodcutter hid the lump of gold deep in the bushes and returned home empty-handed.

The next day, the woodcutter got up early and made many rice balls in the kitchen, without his wife knowing. He went to the mountains again, taking the rice balls with him. He then hung the rice balls on the branches of a tree. He came back home and called out for his wife. “Honey, I found something really strange in the mountains. It’s a rice ball tree! Why don’t we go look at it together?” The wife couldn’t imagine what a rice ball tree was like. She wanted to see the strange thing with her own eyes and followed her husband to the mountains. Just as her husband said, there was a tree covered with rice balls. She couldn’t believe her eyes, but it was definitely a rice ball tree! The husband said, “Darling, we can get rice for free from now on. Isn’t it amazing? But remember. Don’t tell anybody about this. I don’t want to share this magic tree with other people.” The wife said, “Of course not. I won’t tell anyone.”

Upon returning home, the wife quickly went out. No doubt, she couldn’t wait to boast about what she had seen. Looking at his wife running excitedly outside, the woodcutter smiled. As expected, the wife told everyone in the village about the rice ball tree. As the village people didn’t believe her, she suggested that they all go to the mountains to see the marvelous tree. So, dozens of villagers and the woodcutter’s wife went to the place where the tree stood. Strangely enough for the wife, but understandably for people, the tree had no rice balls whatsoever. It was just a normal tree. In fact, while the wife was talking with neighbors about the tree down in the village, the woodcutter quickly went to the mountains and removed all the rice balls from the tree. Looking at the tree left with only bare branches, people laughed at the wife. Some of them even called her a liar. The wife was, of course, embarrassed and humiliated.

A few days later, the woodcutter brought the gold nugget home. As soon as he showed it to his wife, she dashed out of the house and told everyone in the village about the gold her husband had found. This time around, however, no one believed her. People completely ignored what she said. She trudged home, feeling down and discouraged. The husband finally felt safe and relaxed. From then on, the wife didn’t talk too much and never carried tales about anything.