Mr. Good Nose

2014年01月29日

Mr. Good Nose

Grateful Crane
Long long ago, there lived a young fisherman in a village.
One day he said to his mother when he went going fishing for forty days in a sea with his fellows in a big boat,
“Mom, set fire on this house on twentieth day from my departure.”
“What are you talking? I can’t do such a crazy thing.” said his mother.
“Mom, I have an idea. Do set and burn this house.”
On the very twentieth day from his departure,she set fire on her house to ashes as she was told to by her son.
On the other hand, on that evening he said to his fellows, moving his nose.
“I smell something burning. Oh My God, It is my burning house’s smell. My house is burning.”
“It’s nonsense. It is more than 400 kilometers from your house to this boat. It is absolutely impossible to smell your house burning.” said his fellows.
They returned to their village in another twenty days and knew the young man’s house was burned down twenty days ago.
“What you said was true. What a wonderful sense of smell you have!” said everyone.
“It’s unbelievable. I’ll test him again.” said one of his friends and a few days later he threw much charcoal into a well.
At that time a villager happened to pass by him.
“Why are you throwing charcoal away into a well?” asked the villager.
“I’d like to test the famous young man’s nose.” answered the man.
The villager came across the famous fisherman who had a good nose on his way home and said to him.
“Young man, now you are so famous in this village for having a sharp nose. When I passed by a well, I saw someone throwing charcoal into it for the purpose of testing your nose.”

Soon the young man was called by the very friend of his.
“Mr.young man. Excuse me, but would you do me a favor? I know you have a wonderful sense of smell. The other day much charcoal of mine suddenly disappeared. I searched everywhere, but I couldn’t find it. So would you mind finding charcoal with your sharp nose?”
“Of course, not. It’s a piece of cake.” said the young man and went to the well, pretending to smell.
“I smell charcoal in this well.” he said and the charcoal was found.
“What a wonderful sense of smell he has!” said everyone there in surprise.
He became much more famous for having a sharp nose than before.
Soon the lord became ill.
Doctors tried to cure him of his disease but in vain.
One day the young man had a message from the castle;
“Mr.young man. We hear you have a sharp nose. The lord has been ill for a long time. I hope you’ll smell out the cause of his disease with your sharp nose. If you can, we will give you much reward.”
There was no reason for refusing the offer.
Though he was at a loss what to do, anyway he made his way to the castle.
When he came to a big pine tree, he overheard two TENGU(Japanese long-nosed goblin) talking with each other.
“Why not play a trick on the man under the tree?”
“No. we won’t. He is a famous man for a sharp nose and he’ll go to the lord. If we play a trick on him, we’ll be severely punished by the lord. But I wonder how he can find the key to solve the problem. The disease results from a frog under a big stone in his garden. If they remove the frog from under the stone, the lord will be better. Who knows it?” they said and flew away toward a mountain.
On meeting the lord in the castle, he pretended to smell, looking toward the garden until he went to the big stone.
“I smell a frog under this big stone. The disease results from the frog.” he said, pointing at the stone.
His men removed the stone and found the very frog, and set it free.
To their surprise, the lord stood up at his bed.
He was given much money and many straw rice bags.
He was given the name, ‘Mr. Good Nose’ by the lord.

The end