Talk:Beni-enma/@comment-30121804-20190122174601/@comment-32301810-20190305040300

Actually, this is the real story from what I could find:

There was an old couple who lived together. The old man was kind, humble, and honest. His wife, however, was greedy, arrogant, and selfish. One day, the old man found a wounded sparrow in the mountains and took it in, tending to it and feeding it. His wife didn't like it, and felt that they should just get rid of the bird. The old man didn't care, so he kept taking care of it.

One day, the old man had to leave for a while, so he told his wife to take care of the sparrow. Spoiler alert (not), she didn't and let the bird starve. But one day when she went out to fish, the sparrow found some food and ate it. The old woman was angry, so she cut out its tongue and threw the bird out.

When the old man found out, he went into the mountain and met the bird again. The sparrow and its friends returned the kindness he showed it by throwing a feast for the old man. When he had to leave, they presented two baskets, one big and one small, and told him to choose one. The old man chose the small basket, which he later learned was full of treasure. His wife got jealous, so she went to where the sparrow was and took the big basket because she thought it had even more treasure in it. It was filled with monsters, which caused her to either fall down the mountain, which resulted in her presumable death.

My proof: the NP animation and second and third skills allude to the folk tale Shita-kiri Suzume, which I told above. From what I can tell, Beni-enma is the sparrow in human form. Plus, it literally says so in the Default Bio. No idea about the misinformation in the Extra Bio, though. That part goes away from Japanese mythology and goes into Buddhism instead.