Once, there was an old man who lived in a village in Japan with his wife. When his wife died, he stopped talking to everyone, and moved to a mountain near by. The villagers would often come to check on him. One day, an earthquake hit their village. There were mild tremors and the villagers were not very worried. However, the old man saw from his house in the mountain that the earthquake had caused a massive tsunami. He could see the waves building up before they hit the village. He knew that no matter how fast he ran, the tsunami would reach before him. Suddenly, he had an idea. He set his house on fire. He knew the villagers would come to rescue him, when they saw the smoke and flames. As he had expected, many of the villagers came running to save him and were, in turn, saved from the tsunami.
The Old Man Saves the Village
