It’s On My Head!

Chobei was a stingy man. Every day he thought about how to live without spending. But on a beautiful Sunday in spring, Chobei decided to ‘spend’ his day at the park like everybody else. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom, and too beautiful to miss.
Our Chobei went empty-handed, naturally, but soon he spotted his neighbors spreading their lunch under the pink flowers. “Hello, Kichiya-san. A splendid view, isn’t it? And those must be homemade sweets! One for me? Thank you." “Hi, Okoto-chan! How are you today? Sure, I would love to try a glass of your plum wine. Thank you!”
Chobei was having a good time. “Okoto-chan, you found a cherry? Yes, it’s very small and very cute. Thank you. Of course I won’t eat it.” But Chobei was a stingy man. So he ate it. There was a small pit in the center, and Chobei swallowed that, too.
Two months later, Chobei found a bump on his head. The doctor laughed and said, “This is very interesting! You have a baby cherry tree on your head. Don’t worry. It’s only a cherry tree!” Ten months later, Chobei’s tree was in full bloom.
All his neighbors came to enjoy the flowers. They brought homemade sweets, plum wine, and even a karaoke machine to start a big party. After three hours, Chobei was dizzy with noise. “This is too much!” With both hands, he pulled the tree out of his head. The quiet days returned, but Chobei had a hole on his head.
In June it rained a lot, and Chobei had no umbrella. In no time, Chobei’s hole became a nice pond. All his neighbors came to enjoy it. Some went fishing. Others went swimming. Then one night, they decided to set off some fireworks. Boom! “Beautiful!” Boom! “Amazing!” Boom! Boom! Boom! “I can’t take this any more!” screamed Chobei. He was so upset that he ran up to throw himself into the pond on top of his head, and…the quiet days returned, forever.