Written by Natsuko Hama
Illustrated by Yohei Yokoyama
Long long ago, there lived an honest old man and woman.
The couple had a pet dog called 'Shiro'.
They loved him as if he were their own flesh and blood.
One day, Shiro and the old man went to a mountain. “Over here!” The dog barked. “Dig over here!”
The old man began to dig, and found a pot full of gold in the earth.
The greedy old man who lived near the elderly couple saw this, and came to borrow Shiro.
The honest old man could not refuse, and allowed him to take Shiro.
“Go on, bark!” The greedy old man said to Shiro. “Show me where the gold is!”
As they entered the field, Shiro began to bark. “Ruff! Ruff!”
The greedy old man began to dig, but a bad smell soon wafted out of the hole.
Enraged, the greedy old man began to beat Shiro’s face.
Shiro yelped, and soon passed away.
The honest old man and woman planted a small tree at Shiro’s grave.
The tree grew larger and larger, and the elderly couple used the wood from the tree to make a mortar.
When they used the mortar to pound rice cakes, they discovered that rice would appear out of thin air with every swing of the mallet.
Soon, the greedy old man came to borrow the mortar.
But when the greedy old man tried to pound some rice cake, snakes appeared out of nowhere with every attempt.
“Urgh! Disgusting!”
The greedy old man became furious, and set fire to the mortar.
“Shiro’s precious mortar has turned into ash!”
The honest old man said sadly. He gathered the ash and scattered it on Shiro’s grave.
But as he did so, flowers began to bloom out of nowhere!
Delighted, the old man climbed on top of a tree. “Flower bloomer grandpa! Flower bloomer grandpa!” he sang while scattering the ash.
“Let flowers bloom on bare trees!”
Dozens and dozens of peach and cherry blossom flowers began to bloom.
Just then, the king came upon the honest old man and his flowers.
“This is splendid!” The king praised the honest old man.
Seeing this, the greedy old man began to gather some ash. He scrambled up a tree, and said
“Flower bloomer grandpa! Flower bloomer grandpa! Let flowers bloom on bare trees!”
The king said to the greedy old man.
“The flower bloomer grandpa over there! Make flowers bloom on bare trees!”
“Yes your majesty! Here we go! Ha!” But no flowers bloomed.
The greedy old man began to scatter more ash. Some of the ash flew into the king’s eyes and nose.
“You are a fake! Seize him!” Finally, the greedy old man was thrown into prison.
おくづけ
「はなさかじい」英語
文:浜 なつ子
絵:よこやま ようへい
翻訳:ステファニー佐久間
朗読:Jennifer Lee Kolean
音楽:秋山裕和
企画:にほんごの会くれよん
制作:多言語絵本の会RAINBOW
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