Once upon a time, there stood a beautiful inn at the foot of a mountain. The innkeeper was a greedy old woman was always thinking about money. One day, a rich man stopped at the inn. The innkeeper looked at the guest's fat money belt and thought, “Oh, if only all that money could be (me)!”
The rich man asked for the (expensive) room at the inn and he went up to his room to dress for dinner. Now, all around the inn there grew beautiful Japanese ginger plants. Many people say that (eat) buds of ginger makes a person forgetful. This gave the innkeeper idea. “This evening for dinner I will serve ginger buds!” she thought.
“Then, when the rich man (leave) tomorrow morning, he'll be forgetful and leave his money belt behind!” She ran into the kitchen and started cooking up the most delicious ginger buds she had ever made. Soon, the rich man came down the stairs and requested dinner. The innkeeper could hardly control her (joyful) as she served him dish after dish of ginger buds.
“Delicious!” said the rich man. When dinner was finished, he went to bed (happy). In the morning, the innkeeper saw the rich man off at the front door. As soon as he was out of sight, she ran up to his room. She couldn't find the money belt she looked all over the room for it. Suddenly, she noticed a piece of paper on the floor. It was the rich man's bill. He had forgotten (pay) for it!
She ran down the stairs, out the front door, and up the road until she was out of breath, but the rich man was already far, far away.
