Word spread of the man with the cherry tree growing out of his head, and soon
invitations were flooding in to " Head Moutain" as they began to call him, asking him
to come to this picnic and that picnic, but the man refused them all.
"I am more than just the tree sticking out of my head!"
he cried angly.
"Do you do children's parties?"
asked the woman next door, ignoring him.
So he decided to pull the tree out, and this he did.
Everyon was disappointed, but for a while this were quiet.
Then came the rainy season and the rains fell very hard and the hole in the man's
head where the tree had been, filled with water.
"Head Moutain's got a pond now," said the man's neighbor to his friends.
" Looks rather good for fishing."
He and his friend went to Head Moutain's house with their fishing rods and lines,
and without asking permission, they started fishing in his head.
" A t
rout!" shouted one man
triumphantly.
"Oh, I'm sorry," said another man, "I seem to have got my hook caught in your
nostrill."
The fishing party was a great success for everyone except, of course, Head Moutain.
As the men left, one of them said,
" Well, I say we hold our summer the pond on Head Mountain.
Fireworks look beat when
reflected in water."
"No, defitely no," shouted Head Mountain angrily,
but his protests were
drowned out.
So a few weeks later, the whole village broke down Head Moutain's door,
pulled him out of the house, tied him up in a nearby field,
and as fireworks flew overhead, their light
glittering in the water on the man's head,
everyone sang and danced and ate and drank and had the most wonderful time.
Head Mountain fell into a depression after that. He shut himself into his house,
thinking gloomy thoughts about the pond on this head,
which because of his unhappy thoughts, grew into a cold lake.
Soon it was
autumn and with it came rumors that the local Ladies Association
wanted to use Head Mountain for their annual Charity Hot Pot dinner
or possibly a foot spa.
The man grew even more depressed,
and finally deciding there was no point in living like this,
one night he tragically took his own life.
They say he leaped into the lake on his head.
They never did find his body.
The End.
単語
・trout トラウト（サケ科の一種） ・triumphantly 勝ち誇って ・nostril 鼻孔（鼻の穴？）
・reflect 反射する ・drown out かき消される。聞こえなくする。
・glitter （反射して）きらきら光る ・gloomy 陰気な。憂鬱な。 ・autumn 秋（9月～11月）
・rumor うわさ ・annual 一年の ・Hot Pot 鍋 ・leap into 飛び込む
