Taro, a woodcutter who lived in Japan with his parents, chopped down trees into pieces using an axe. One windy day, his parents sat in their small house with holes and cracks, feeling cold from the strong wind. Taro's father wished for a warm drink called Saké.
Feeling sad and worried, Taro decided to work harder to earn money to buy Saké for his father. The next morning, he woke up early and went to the forest to chop wood. As he worked, Taro thought about his cold father and decided to work even harder to buy nice things for him.
While working in the forest, Taro heard a strange noise and felt very thirsty. He found a beautiful waterfall that tasted like Saké. Taro filled a container with the special water and took it home. After giving it to his father, he was very happy and stopped shivering. When a neighbor visited, Taro's father shared the special Saké, and the neighbor loved it. Taro shared the story of the magic waterfall, and soon, everyone in the village knew about it.
The next morning, Taro woke up earlier than usual and went to the forest where he chops wood. He used his axe to cut down trees and made pieces of wood. As the weather was so hot, Taro got warmer and was sweating. So he took off his jacket. While he was working hard, Taro thought about his father at home. He felt sad because he imagined his father might be feeling cold while Taro was warm from working in the sun.
So, Taro decided to work even harder that day. He wanted to earn more money so he could buy nice things for his father and keep him warm and happy at home. Taro continued working hard in the forest. Suddenly he heard a strange noise like fast-moving water. He did not expect this sound in that part of the forest before. And also as he worked hard, he felt very thirsty. So he dropped his axe down and ran towards the sound of rushing water to know from where the sound was coming from and to quench his thirst with water. He found a small beautiful and lovely waterfall that was hiding behind the rock.
Taro kneeled down next to where the water was moving gently. He used his hands to scoop up a little bit of the water. Then, he tasted it to see what it was like. Instead of tasting like regular cold water, the water from the waterfall tasted like Saké. Taro was amazed by this discovery. He tasted the water multiple times to make sure, and each time, it still tasted like delicious Saké and not plain water. He took a big container with him and filled it with this special water. Then, he quickly went home.
In the afternoon, a neighbor came to visit Taro and his family. Taro's father kindly gave the neighbor a cup of the special Saké. The neighbor drank the Saké quickly because she liked it a lot. Taro then told the neighbor about the magic waterfall where he got the Saké. The neighbor thanked them for the tasty drink and left quickly. she found the story very interesting and couldn't wait to tell other people about it. By the evening, the neighbor had told everyone in the village about the magic waterfall and the special Saké.
At evening when Taro's neighbor left Taro's home, many people came to Taro's house one by one. This is called a "procession," which means a long line of people coming one after another. Each person who visited heard the story about the magic waterfall from Taro. Taro gave little bit of the Saké to all the visitors. In less than an hour, many people came and drank all the Saké that there was none left in the pitcher. The next morning, Taro woke up even earlier than the day before. He took his biggest pitcher with him because he wanted to go back to the waterfall. When he got there, he was very surprised to see all his neighbors already there. They had brought pitchers, jars, buckets—anything they could find to collect the magic Saké.
One of the villagers knelt down and put his mouth under the waterfall to drink. He drank several times and then shouted in an angry voice, "Water! It's just plain water!" Other villagers also tried, but they found out there was no more Saké coming from the waterfall—only cold water. This shows that the magic Saké was only available for a short time, and now it was just regular water again.
The villagers were very upset when they realized they had been tricked. They shouted angrily, "Where is Taro? Let's throw him into this waterfall!" They wanted to punish Taro because they believed he had lied to them about the magic Saké. But Taro was clever. When he saw that the villagers were angry and looking for him, he quickly hid behind a big rock where no one could see him. So, when the villagers looked around, they couldn't find Taro anywhere. After the villagers got angry and left, talked quietly.