One day an old man came into Shin's wineshop. He said, "I don't have a cent, but won't you please give me a little sake to drink?"
Shin looked at the old man. He was ragged, but there was something impressive about him. So Shin said, "Yes sir. If you don't have money, then you won't need any."
He gave some sake to the old man, who smiled, picked up the wine cup, and drank it down as though he'd never had any more delicious.
"Ah, that was good," the old man said. He clicked his tongue and left. But he came back at the same time the next day.
"I don't have a cent, but please give me a little sake to drink."
"Yes sir. If you don't have money, then you won't need any."
Shin gave some sake to the old man, who clicked his tongue, emptied the cup, said "delicious" and left.
The next day the old man came in and said, "I don't have a cent, but ..." and Shin replied "Then you won't need any," and gave him a drink. After that the old man came in every day and had a drink. How many days did it go on?
One day the old man said, "My sake bill has really added up. Shall I draw you a picture?"
Then he took a tangerine out of a basket he wore at his side, and peeled it. With the peel, he drew a picture on the white wall of the wineshop. With a few quick strokes, there was a picture of a crane there. It was a yellowish color, since it was drawn with a tangerine peel. But it was a fine crane, and looked almost alive.
"When a customer comes in, have him face the wall, and clap his hands and sing." Saying this, the old man left.
When the next customer came in, Shin said, "Please look at that drawing and clap your hands and sing a song, if you don't mind."
"Okay." The customer clapped his hands and sang a song. As he did, strange to see, the picture of a crane that had just been drawn spread its wings across the wall. Then it began to dance here and there in time with the song.
This was soon talked about all over town, and Shin's wineshop suddenly became very popular.
A number of years passed after that, and then the old man came again. The old man stood in front of the crane drawing, but this time he began to play a flute. When he did, the crane stepped out of the picture, and stood before the old man. Still holding the flute, the old man straddled the crane's back, and they flew off into the heavens. Shin and many others watched the old man and the crane until they disappeared into the white clouds.