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Long, long ago, there lived a mother and her two children, a boy and a girl, in a tiny village deep in the mountain. The family was so poor that the mother had to work odd jobs at other houses to get by.

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One day she helped out at a neighbor’s party and was coming back home through the woods with some delicious rice cakes she got from there.

Just when she walked over the first hill, she met a tiger.

 “I won't eat  you up if you give me a piece of rice cake.” 

She tossed a piece to the creature before hurrying past it. 

But the tiger kept following her, asking for more.

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“I gave you everything I had. Now go away!”

Despite her desperate plea, the tiger ended up devouring her. The tiger changed into the woman’s clothing and headed toward her home.

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 “Children, it’s Mommy. Please open the door.” 

“That’s not our mom. It must be a tiger.”

The children went out through the back door and climbed up a tall pine tree standing next to a well in the backyard. 

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“Oh, dear god. Please send down a fresh rope if you want us to live and an old rope if you want us to die.”

Lo and behold! A fresh new rope came down from the heavens.

The children took hold of the rope and were lifted up to the sky. 

The tiger also asked God for a rope.

A rope came down from the sky. But...

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What became of the siblings who went up to the sky? 

The sister became the sun and the brother the moon.