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8 The Ashes that

Made Trees Bloom

I can read...
I can read...
This story narrates the tale of a kind old farmer and his loyal dog whose love

and kindness bring unexpected fortune. It also contrasts their goodness with the
cruelty and greed of their neighbors, leading to a magical lesson about kindness
and envy. This chapter is about a little Fir Tree growing in a sunlit forest filled
with fresh air and tall pine and fir trees. Though it has a peaceful life, the tree
yearns to grow up quickly and experience the world beyond the woods — only
to later learn that longing for the future can sometimes rob us of the joy of the
present.

PART I
In the fine old days of the daimios, there lived an old farmer couple who had only a

little dog as their pet. Having no children, they loved it as though it were their child.
The old dame made a cushion of blue crape for it, and at meal time Muko—the name

it was called with—would sit on it in the manner of a cat. The kind people fed the pet
with tidbits of fish from their own chopsticks, and all the boiled rice it liked to have.

Thus treated, the dumb creature loved its masters like a human with a soul.

62 English-8