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A long, long time ago there lived a greedy
old man and a greedy old woman. There was also a generous old man and generous
old woman.
One day, the generous old man and generous
old woman made many ＊dango rolled
away. They went to pick it up, but it kept on rolling and so they ran after it
saying, “Please wait, Mr. Dango.
Please wait, Mr. Dango.” The
dango proceeded to fall down a large
hole. When the old man followed it into the hole, he came across a giant **Jizo-sama standing in front of him. The
old man ate the part of the dango
that had soil on it and he made an offering of the clean part of the dango to the Jizo-sama. The Jizo-sama
said, “Old man, old man, please climb onto my knee.”
The old man was astounded, “I can’t do that,” he said. But Jizo-sama continued, “Please climb up
quickly. Climb onto my shoulders, climb onto my head. Climb onto the roof. The
demons are coming here, so at the crack of dawn please crow like a cockerel three
times.”
Very
well,” replied the old man. He wondered what on earth was going on.
fter a while, many
demons arrived and drinking ***sake created
merry hell. And as the morning drew close, the old man crowed like a cockerel three
times. “The night is over,” said the demons, disappearing empty handed. “Come back down, old man. Please take these
treasures,” said the Jizo-sama.The old man was amazed and took away much treasure
with him. The generous old woman was also surprised at the wealth her husband
brought home with him.
Upon hearing this story, the greedy old man
also made some dangos, and because
they did not roll away, he kicked one down a hole and made an offering of the
part of the< dango covered in soil to
the Jizo-sama while eating the clean
part himself. Although he was not told to climb onto the Jizo-sama’s knee, scrambled all the way to the roof.
As expected, when night came, the demons
arrived and once again created merry hell. The greedy old man crowed like a
cockerel three times in the middle of the night.The demons found the
old man on the roof, “It’s still night. You tricked us before. You’ll pay for
it,” and they proceeded to beat up the old man.
The greedy old woman
was waiting for her husband to come back with much treasure, but all he brought
back with him were multiple bruises. The moral of the
story being that it is better to be generous than greedy.
*A sweet Japanese rice cake made from rice flour
** A Buddhist bodhisattva that protects children
***Japanese
rice wine
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