CHAPTER 1 - A Japanese Folktale

Reading Comprehension - Check Your Understanding

A. Choose the best answer for the following questions.

1. What lesson does the author want us to learn from this story?
A) Innkeepers are always thinking about money.
B) Trying to take things that belong to others is wrong.
C) If you ever stay at a country inn, be careful about your money.

2. After the rich man left, the innkeeper raced up to the room to ______
A) check if he paid his bill
B) look for his money belt
C) clean the room

3. After he left the inn, the rich man was probably ______.
A) very angry at the innkeeper
B) feeling lucky that he didn't lose his money
C) not aware that anything had happened

4. Who ended up losing in the end?
A) the innkeeper
B) the rich man
C) both of them

B. Read the following sentences. Choose true (T) or false (F).

C. Discuss the following questions with a partner.

1. What is the moral or lesson of the story? Do you think the innkeeper deserved it?
   Answer

   The overall idea is that it does not pay to be dishonest (in which case, the innkeeper deserved what she got).

2. Is this story realistic? Do you think greedy people get what they deserve?
   Answer

   Sometimes greedy, dishonest people get what they deserve but, this is not always the case.

A Japanese Folktale

Once upon a time, in a Japanese mountain inn,¹ there was a greedy innkeeper² who was always thinking about money.

One day, a rich man stopped at the inn. The innkeeper looked at the guest’s fat money belt and thought, “Oh, if only all that money could be mine!” The rich man requested the most luxurious room at the inn. Then he went up to his room to dress for dinner.

Now, all around the inn there grew delicate Japanese ginger plants. In Japan, there is a saying that eating too many ginger buds makes you stupid and forgetful. This gave the innkeeper an idea.

“This evening for dinner I’ll serve ginger bud tempura!³” she thought. “Then, when the rich man leaves in the morning, he’ll be forgetful and leave his money belt behind!” She ran into the kitchen and started cooking up the most delicious ginger bud tempura she had ever made.

Later that evening, the rich man came down the stairs and requested dinner. The innkeeper could hardly contain her delight as she served him dish after dish of ginger buds. “Delicious!” declared the rich man loudly. After he finished his dinner, he went to bed happy, full of ginger buds.

The next morning, the innkeeper said goodbye to the rich man. As soon as he was out of sight, she raced up to his room. She looked all over the room for the money belt, but she couldn’t find it. Suddenly, she noticed a piece of paper on the floor. It was the rich man’s bill. He had forgotten to pay it! She ran after him, down the stairs, out the front door, and up the road until she was out of breath, but the rich man was already far, far away.