Long long ago, there was a man called Gombei the Duck-Hunter.
One morning, Gombei went to the nearby pond and he was very surprised.
A great number of ducks were caught in the trap he had set the day before.
Furthermore, the pond has been frozen and made the ducks unable to move.
"How lucky I am!
If I wait here longer, I will be able to catch more ducks."
With great joy,
Gombei drew the trap net and started to watch over the pond.
Then the sun went up and the ice of the pond began melting.
"Good Heavens! "
He hurried to gather the net but it was too late.
The ducks woke up and flapped their wings to fly away.
To Gombei's surprise,
the ducks pulled the net with Gombei and took him high above the air.
The ducks flew over the field, mountains and valleys, hanging Gombei in the net.
"Help! Help me!"
Gombei shouted and carelessly let the net go.
"Oh man!"
Gombei fell from the sky head over heels and down in front of a farmer working on his farm.
Thud!
Then Gombei told his story to the farmer.
"Really?
You tried to catch the ducks but on the contrary, the ducks took you in the air ?
How strange!"
The farmer felt sorry for Gombei and offered,
"What do you say to staying at our place for a while?"
Gombei answered right away,
"Yes! Thank you so much! Please let me stay with you!"
After that day, Gombei worked very hard, plowing the field and sowing seeds.
One day, while he was harvesting millet in the field,
he found only three stalks of the millet having much bigger ears than others.
"How big! OK, I will reap them first."
Gombei tried to draw them toward him to reap.
Suddenly, their stems sprang back like springs.
"Oh man!"
Whiz!
Gombei was blown far away by the stems and fell down in front of the umbrella shop.
Thud!
Gombei told his story to the shop owner.
"Really?
You tried to reap millet plants and you were blown away by them?
How strange!"
The shop owner felt sorry for Gombei and offered,
"What do you say to working with this umbrella shop for a while
and making some money?"
Gombei answered right away,
"Yes! Thank you so much! Please let me work here!"
Gombei helped the shop owner and worked very hard.
One day,
when he was drying the finished umbrellas outside, strong wings suddenly blew.
Whiz!
In a blink of time, Gombei was blown away high up in the air again.
"Oh my goodness! Why do I have to be blown off so many times?"
Complaining, he landed on the place something like a roof.
""Phew, thank goodness.
I seem to have landed on someone's roof....Oh,man!""
To his surprise,
he had landed on the top of the five-storied pagoda of a temple.
How frightened Gombei was!
""Oh, help! Help me!""
Then four monks hurried to the pagoda.
They spread the mattress they carried and shouted at Gombei.
"Are you OK?
Jump off toward this mattress!"
"No way! I'm so scared!"
"Don't worry! We are holding it very tightly! jump off right now!"
He had no choice but to jump off.
"OK, I'm so desperate now I'm jumping off!
One, two, three, GO!"
Thud!
Gombei jumped into the center of the mattress.
At that moment,
the monks bumped one another on the head, and sparks flew from their eyes.
Then the sparks spread in all directions and they started a fire in the five-storied pagoda.
The pagoda burnt down, and the temple burnt down, too.
Everything burnt down and nothing was left there.