But that was not enough for him , and for days and weeks he poured forth rain till the rivers overflowed their banks , and the crops of rice stood in water . Towns and villages were destroyed by the power of the rain , only the great rock on the mountain side remained unmoved . The cloud was amazed at the sight , and cried in wonder : ` Is the rock , then , mightier than I ? Oh , if I were only the rock ! ' And the mountain spirit answered : ` Your wish is heard ; the rock you shall be ! And the rock he was , and gloried in his power . Proudly he stood , and neither the heat of the sun nor the force of the rain could move him . ` This is better than all ! ' he said to himself . But one day he heard a strange noise at his feet , and when he looked down to see what it could be , he saw a stone-cutter driving tools into his surface . Even while he looked a trembling feeling ran all through him , and a great block broke off and fell upon the ground . Then he cried in his wrath : ` Is a mere child of earth mightier than a rock ? Oh , if I were only a man ! ' And the mountain spirit answered : ` Your wish is heard . A man once more you shall be ! ' And a man he was , and in the sweat of his brow he toiled again at his trade of stone-cutting . His bed was hard and his food scanty , but he had learned to be satisfied with it , and did not long to be something or somebody else . And as he never asked for things he had not got , or desired to be greater and mightier than other people , he was happy at last , and heard the voice of the mountain spirit no longer . -LSB- From Japanische Mahrchen . -RSB- The Gold-Bearded Man Once upon a time there lived a great king who had a wife and one son whom he loved very much .
The boy was still young when , one day , the king said to his wife : ' I feel that the hour XXXXX my death draws near , and I want you to promise that you will never take another husband but will give up your life to the care of our son . '
as at by if in into of than to upon