Once upon a time, there were two old men. One was very honest, and
the other was a liar. The honest man had a dog, named Pochi. One day,
Pochi barked in the middle of field. So the honest man dug there. From beneath the
soil appeared a large amount of gold.
The liar envied him. He took Pochi out, and ordered the dog to
find gold for him. Pochi reluctantly barked in his field. When he dug a where
Pochi barked, only ugly serpents and toads emerged from the earth. He got angry, and
killed pochi.
The honest old man was sad. He buried Pochi's body and planted a
tree as its tomb. The tree grew rapidly. So the honest old man cut the tree
and made a mortar out of the wood. When he made rice cake with the mortar, gold
coins poured out.
The dishonest old man envied him again. He borrowed the mortar
from the honest man, and used it to made rice cake. Again, he got only worms, frogs
and snakes. He got angry, and burned the wooden mortar.
The honest old man was sad again. He brought the ashes of the
mortar back, and strew them. The ashes were carried by wind to dead trees, and to his
surprise, the dead tree revived and blossomed. The lord of the region saw it, and
very amazed . So the honest old man was very well rewarded.
The dishonest old man envied him once again. He stole the
remaining ashes, and went to the lord's castle. He said he could make dead trees
blossom, and demonstrated in front of the lord. However, he was betrayed once again.
The tree didn't revive, and the ashes flew into the eyes of the lord, making the
lord very angry. So the old dishonest man was executed at last.
