A statue and monkeys

Long long ago, there lived an old man and his wife in a village.
One day he went out to work in a mountain, with a lunch box cooked by his wife.
He sat on a stump about noon to eat lunch.
“I’m hungry.” said he, opening the lunch box, when soybean flour on the rice made his face white because of a sudden strong wind.
Anyway he was so hungry that he finished eating lunch and fell into a doze on the grass.
Several monkeys came down from the mountain to the old man.
“Look. This is a statue.
Let’s take it in the mountain and give it our kind hospitality, shall we?”
said a monkey.
“That’s good.” agreed other monkeys.
They carried the statue, or the old man, on their shoulders.
On the way they crossed a river.
Though he woke, he pretended to be asleep.
In the mountain the monkeys set the statue up under a big tree and offered flowers, a few grapes, rice, fish, and some money in front of it.
At night the old man returned home with so many souvenirs.
Another old man next to him heard of it and started to the mountain with soybean flour on his face next day.
He pretended to be asleep on the grass.
Several monkeys came down from the mountain to the old man.
“Look. This is a statue again.
Let’s take it in the mountain and give it our kind hospitality again, shall we?”
said a monkey.
“That’s good.” agreed other monkeys.
When they were crossing the river, the old man couldn’t endure laughing any more and burst into laughter at last.
“This is not a statue but an old human being.
Throw him away in the river.” said a monkey.
He was nearly drown in the river.

The end