Long ago, Sanya a poor merchant of Hyuga went on a journey with another merchant. It was a hot day and they were going along a lonely mountain road. They walked and walked and then decided to rest for a while under a tree. They lay in the shade of a tree by the side of the road, and the friend quickly fell asleep. While Sanya watched his friend sleeping, he saw something strange. A bee came, went in and then darted out of one of the man’s nostrils. ‘That was strange,’ Sanya thought. But then the bee returned again, moved around the man’s face and then disappeared. The friend awoke and said, “I had a weirdest dream just now.” “What did you dream?” Sanya asked. He replied, “It might have been in a mountain near here that I found a valley which was full of gold while I was walking around.”
The Merchant Who Bought a Dream
“That was truly a good dream,” said Sanya, “Please sell that dream to me.” “What does a dream amount to?” exclaimed his friend, “How much will you pay for it?” Finally, after some persuasion and negotiation, Sanya bought the dream from his friend. He travelled in search of the region and went over mountain after mountain, searching every day as watchfully as he could. At last, he discovered the gold mine called Toroku. During Sanya’s generation it yielded as much gold as had been dreamed. He became the richest man in Kyushu. He also gave a lot of gold to his friend from whom he bought the dream. The strange thing was that when Sanya died, there was an earthquake and the mountain crumbled down. Presently, there is only a swamp left.
