ESL Blogs

Once upon a time, there was a mountain in a village where elderly people were thrown away to reduce the number of mouths to feed. Ichiro, who lived in the village, was a very poor farmer and lived with his mother, wife, and three children. They didn't have enough food so his children cried every day because of their hunger. Ichiro's mother pitied her grandchildren and asked him to leave her at a place deep in the mountain. She thought that the little food that they had should be shared among everyone in his family except her because she thought that she wouldn't live much longer than them. 

One day. he decided to leave her at a place deep in the mountain after much agonizing. When he was walking toward the depths of the mountain carrying her on his back, he noticed that she sometimes dropped petals one by one. He asked her, "Why are you dropping petals?" She answered, "It is because you can get back without getting lost." When he heard that, he realized how deep his mother's love was. He was very ashamed of his attempt to throw his mother away, and went back home with his mother. Though they were poor, they lived together happily ever after.