"The Rabbit and the Two Old Men" Mimei Ogawa

Two grumpy old men lived next to each other. One of them kept rabbits, including white, black, and even some rare-colored ones, which he cared for like his own children. However, the other old man would often cough loudly every morning, scaring the rabbits. This irritated the rabbit-keeping old man, who would mutter complaints under his breath. On the other hand, the coughing old man found the noise of the rabbits fighting early in the morning disturbing, and he grew annoyed by their presence.

One morning, the rabbit-keeper noticed his favorite black rabbit sneaking through a gap in the fence to nibble on plants in the neighbor’s yard. He chose to ignore it. At that moment, the coughing old man saw the rabbit and decided to scare it. Quietly approaching, he let out a loud cough right above the rabbit’s head. Startled, the rabbit dashed away, leaving the rabbit-keeper equally surprised.

Not long after, the black rabbit began to cough, just like the neighbor. The rabbit-keeper believed that his neighbor had “infected” his rabbit with a cough. Although he was furious, he couldn’t directly confront the neighbor, as his rabbit had wandered into the neighbor’s yard. Nevertheless, he shared his frustration with visitors, claiming, “The neighbor gave my rabbit a cough.”

Word of this strange incident spread throughout the town, and curious people came to see the coughing rabbit. Sure enough, the black rabbit would move its head up and down and cough, leaving people in fits of laughter. The town soon began gossiping about the coughing old man, and children would point him out, laughing at the man who supposedly passed his cough to a rabbit.

One day, a boy named Taro even drew a picture of the old man during art class, titling it “The Old Man Who Gave a Rabbit a Cough.” His teacher, confused by the title, asked Taro to explain. When Taro shared the story, the entire class, including the teacher, burst into laughter.