This video segment from Weston Woods presents a Japanese folktale (a story that is part of a culture’s oral tradition). In the folktale, Tasaku, the stonecutter wished only to work all day and please the mountain spirit. One day, though, he meets a prince and is envious of him. Tasaku wishes for wealth. The mountain spirit hears him and changes Tasaku into a prince. This makes Tasaku happy but only for a little while until he becomes envious of the sun, then a cloud, then a mountain. In the end, Tasaku is a powerful mountain. Yet, deep inside, he trembles.