An old man and his wife lived happily on a small farm. The couple had no children, but they loved their little pet dog, Shiro.
One morning, Shiro was barking and tried to pull the old man to his field. There was a Hinoki tree in the field and Shiro kept digging the ground near it. The old man ran and fetched a spade to dig where Shiro pointed. Suddenly, he came upon a bagful of gold coins. The old man and his wife became rich.
The old man had a crafty and jealous neighbour. The neighbour had followed him and, hidden behind the tall bamboo, he had seen the whole incident. He wanted to get rich too.
Therefore, one night he quietly stole Shiro and, taking a spade, he went to his own field where there was also a Hinoki tree. He forced Shiro to dig there, saying, “Find the treasure!” And then, he dug there too.
Suddenly, a disgusting smell rose from the pit. There was a lot of stinking garbage rotting there. The neighbour was furious and he ran into the old man’s field and set fire to his Hinoki tree. The old man and his wife put out the fire. But it was too late. The Hinoki tree was burnt. He managed to save a branch and made it into a bowl.
The bowl turned out to be magical, for the rice cakes made by the old woman in it never finished! The jealous neighbour borrowed the bowl, but he got some nasty tasting stuff only. So, he burnt it.
When the old man went to ask for his bowl, the nasty neighbour said it had got burnt. The old man sadly took the ashes of the bowl and scattered some ash on his peach and cherry trees. They bloomed with flowers. The Lord of the city had a cherry tree that was dying. When he heard about the old man’s trees, he asked for his help. The old man sprinkled some ash on the tree and it blossomed! The Lord rewarded the old man richly.
The jealous neighbour thought he too would earn a reward and took some of the remaining ashes of the bowl from his fireplace and went to the Lord of the city saying that he could treat his trees. But he managed to kill some of them. The Lord of the city was so angry that he put the neighbour into prison. Now, he could not harm the old man.
