The wind carried the ash until it fell all over a nearby cherry blossom tree.
And then, something very strange happened.
The bare winter branches of the tree suddenly burst into blossom.
Hearing about this, the lord of the kingdom invited the old man to his palace.
Standing in an orchard of bare cherry blossom trees, the old man threw a handful of ash into the air, and all of the trees suddenly burst into full bloom.
The lord was delighted, and rewarded the old man generously.
When he learnt about this, the greedy neighbor stole the ashes from the old man’s house and went to visit the lord.
“I am also famed for making bare trees blossom,” he claimed, grasping a handful of the ashes. “Right, let’s make the trees bloom!”
But when he scattered the ashes in the air, nothing happened.
Except for a large piece of ash floating straight into the lord’s eye.
The lord’s retainers immediately grabbed hold of the greedy man and beat him hard as a punishment.