And so from then on he went into the mountains every day, instead of his mother, to gather firewood. The mother was very happy, and made lunches to send with the child.
One day the child hung the lunch his mother had made on the branch of a tree, then climbed up the tree to break off dry branches. Then a white-haired old man came along from somewhere, and took the lunch and gobbled it down without asking the child.
Seeing this, the child thought to himself, "Some old men are strange enough!" But he also thought, "That old man must be really hungry. If that's the case, that's too bad, and I'll let him have the lunch. I can find plenty to eat when I go back home."
He climbed down from the tree and said, "Old man, old man! Please eat all you want!"
The old man said, "Thank you. I get hungrier as I get older." And he finished the whole lunch off.
The child loaded up his firewood and returned home. When he got back he told his mother about the old man he met in the mountains.
The mother said, "Is that so? You did the right thing. Tomorrow I'll make up two lunches, so there will be one for the old man."
And so the next day the child left the house with two lunches. When he got into the mountains, he hung the lunches from a branch as he had the previous day. Then he climbed up the tree and started breaking off dry branches.
Again, the old man came along from somewhere, took a lunch from the branch and started to eat it. But when he had finished the first lunch, he started on the second.
The child saw that and thought to himself, "The old man is really hungry. I can get plenty to eat when I get home, so I don't really need a lunch." And so he climbed down and said, "Old man, old man! Please eat them both."
The old man said, "Thank you, thank you. I get hungrier as I get older." And he finished off both lunches.
On the third day the child only took one lunch into the mountains. The mother had to go out and wanted the child to return home early, so she just made a lunch up for the old man.
When the child went into the mountains and climbed up a tree, the same old man came along. He called out, "Child, child! You are a good-natured and kind child. And so, I am going to tell you something. I am the mountain god who lives on this mountain."
The child climbed down the tree and sat on a stone in front of the mountain god to listen to his words.
"If you go west from here, there is a place called Tenjiku [India]. There you will find a temple more splendid than anything you have ever seen. It would be good for you to go worship there. As you travel, people will make requests of you, and it would be good to do what you are asked.:
As soon as he finished speaking, the old man turned into a big oak tree.
The child returned home and told his mother what had happened. The mother approved of the advice, said "In that case . . ." and started making preparations for a trip to Tenjiku. However, this Tenjiku was far, far away, and would take many, many days. Consequently, it would be necessary to take a great deal of rice and miso. That was beyond their means, so after consulting with his mother, the child went to the home of a rich man who lived nearby to borrow rice and miso.
"I'm going to worship at a really splendid temple in Tenjiku. And so, I hate to ask, but couldn't you loan me rice and miso to eat on the way?"
"That's fine," the rich man said. "By the way, I have a request for you, too. My daughter has been sick for three years. When you worship at the really splendid temple in Tenjiku, please pray for my daughter to be cured."
"That would be no trouble," the child answered. He borrowed the rice and miso, and started out for India. After he had walked for many days, he asked to spend the night at one impressive looking house.
"Where are you going," the master of the house asked him.
"To worship at a temple in Tenjiku," the child replied.
"That's a good place to go. In that case, I'll ask a favor. Until now, I've made a living by producing flowers called sandan flowers. Recently, however, one of the trees they grow on withered up, and then the second tree withered. Now only the third tree is blooming. I would like to get the first two trees to bloom again, somehow. If you worship at the temple in Tenjiku, please pray about that."
"Yes, yes. I certainly will." The child accepted that charge, and said he would leave the next day. The master pointed out that to go that direction, he would have to cross a large river.
When the child did go, sure enough there was a large river. There was no bridge to cross it, and no boat in sight. As he was wondering what to do, he saw a woman moving along the other shore of the river. Her face was swollen so that he could hardly make out her eyes and nose. She was an unsightly woman. However, the child wanted to ask her something, so he called out to her.
"Hello! How can I cross this river?"
At that, the woman became as a shadow, and flew across the river to where the child was. "Child, child," she asked, "Where are you going?"
"To Tenjiku, to worship at a temple," the child said.
The ugly woman hung her head. "In that case," she said, "I have a request. I have lived a thousand years on the shore, a thousand years on the river, and a thousand years on the sea. To tell the truth, I'm not human. I have gone to great pains for a long time to get up to heaven, but I don't know the technique to ascend. Not knowing it, my eyes have gotten puffy, my nose is swollen, and my face has become ugly. If you get to the temple in Tenjiku, please ask the Buddha how I can ascend to heaven."
"Yes, yes. I certainly will," the child said.
"Please climb on my head, then," the woman said. With the child on her head, she flew straight back across the river, and reached the other shore in a moment. Standing there. the child looked to the west and saw a splended temple atop a hill. It was more splendid than anything he had ever seen.
"That's the temple the mountain god told me about," he thought happily, and he walked toward it. When he arrived at the temple, the mountain god, as a white-haired old man, was standing there.
"I'm glad you came," the god said. "Weren't there any requests along the way?"
The child spoke first of the daughter of the rich man who lived near his own home.
"There's no reason for that," the mountain god said. "Have the men of the neighborhood gather and offer wine cups to her. If the girl gives property to the man she accepts and he becomes her husband, then her illness will be cured right away. Were you asked for anything else?"
When the the child told about the sandan flowers, the mountain god said that wasn't a problem either. He explained that there were two pots of gold buried under the roots of the trees. "If they will dig up the gold, and give one pot to others and keep one pot for themselves," he said, " the sandan flowers will bloom beautifully again."
Then the child told about the woman he had met on the shore of the river.
The mountain god said, "That is because the woman has a jewel named Ninjo. Because of her attachment to the jewel, her eyes have puffed up, her nose has swollen, and she can't get to heaven even after 3,000 years. If she would just give it to someone, she could ascend to heaven immediately."
Having taught him that, the mountain god turned into a large oak tree, just as before. The child decided to leave that place, and return to his mother's home. He walked back to the big river, and the ugly woman was standing on the shore waiting for him.
"What happened?" she asked.
"I'll tell you," the child said, "but please take me across the river first."
After climbing on her head and crossing the river he told her, "Please give the Ninjo jewel you have to somebody. If you do, you can ascend to heaven right away."
When she heard that, the woman placed the jewel in front of the child. When she did, there was a terrible, loud sound from the distance, and a mist formed all around them. The child was frightened, and fled immediately. When he was some distance away, he turned back and saw that the mist had cleared and a column of water was rising into the air. The woman was atop the column, and ascended into heaven.
The child put the jewel in his pocket, and startged walking back to his mother. After some time, he came to the house where the sandan flowers grew. The master was waiting, and asked the child what had happened.
The child explained what the old man had taught him. The master immediately dug up the roots of the flower trees and found the two pots of gold. He gave one of them to the child, and as soon as he did, the two withered trees began to put forth shoots, then leaves, buds and beautiful flowers.
Carrying the jewel and the pot of gold, the child returned home rejoicing. The rich man couldn't stand to wait, and asked about his daughter's illness. The child explained what the god had told him.
The rich man immediately assembled every man in the neighborhood and had them offer wine cups to his daughter. The daughter would not point at any of them. At the urging of the rich man, the child went up to the daughter. She picked up her wine cup right away, and held it out to the child.
The child, however, did not want to take it. But the rich man said, "This is the doing of the god; please accept it," and the child finally took the wine cup. The daughter's illness was cured. She stood up and began to dance.
When this had happened, the child became the rich man's son-in-law, and brought his mother with him. They lived happily ever after.