Foolish Saburo
Once upon a time, in a village, there lived a boy named Saburo. He was so foolish that the neighbors called him Foolish Saburo. If he was given one task, he would somehow manage to do it, but if given two, he would mix everything up. He always found himself in trouble. His parents were very upset but still hoped that Saburo would someday become wiser. One day, his father said to him:"Go, Saburo, and dig up the sweet potatoes. Lay out everything you take from the ground on the beds and let it dry in the sun."
"Alright," replied Saburo and headed to the field. As soon as he started digging the sweet potatoes, his hoe hit something hard. Saburo dug deeper and pulled out a large pot. He opened it, and it was full of gold coins—a real treasure.
"Father told me to lay out everything I take from the ground to dry," remembered Foolish Saburo, and he spread the coins on the beds.
Then he went home and said:
"Today I found a pot of gold, and now the gold coins are drying on the beds."
His parents could only throw up their hands in despair. They rushed to the field, but the gold had long since disappeared.
"Next time," his father instructed, "when you find something, wrap it up and bring it home."
"Okay," replied Saburo.
The next day, he saw a dead cat on the road. He wrapped it up and brought it home.
"You can't be this foolish!" his father scolded. "You should have thrown it into the river."
The next morning, Saburo saw a huge stump. It was terribly heavy, but Foolish Saburo remembered his father's instructions well—he grabbed the stump and dragged it to the river.
At that moment, a neighbor was passing by.
"What are you doing, you fool! That stump could still be used for firewood. You should have chopped it up and taken it home."
"Alright," said Saburo, "next time I'll do that."
He went home, and suddenly he saw a beautiful bowl lying by the side of the road. It seemed someone had lost it. Saburo picked up the bowl and smashed it on the ground! The bowl shattered into pieces. Foolish Saburo gathered the pieces and took them home.
"Look, Mom, what I found today!"
His mother looked: it was the shards of the bowl her husband had taken to the field with him!
In the morning, his parents decided:
"Everything you do is no good. We're going to the field today, and you stay home."
And they left Saburo alone. "I don't understand why people call me Foolish Saburo," thought the boy. "I do everything exactly as they tell me."
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