Once upon a time, in a beautiful mountain inn, there was a greedy old innkeeper who 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 (要.....就好了) all that money could be mine!" The rich man requested the most 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 (姜黃色的) plants. Many people say that eating buds of tempura (天妇罗花蕾) makes a person forgetful. This gave the inn-keeper an idea.
"This evening for dinner I'll serve ginger bud tempura. "she thought," Then, when the rich man leaves in the morning, he' II be forgetful and leave his money belt behind!" She ran into the kitchen and started cooking the most delicious ginger bud tempura she had ever made.
Soon, the rich man came down and requested dinner. The innkeeper could hardly contain her delight(高兴) as she served him dish after dish of ginger buds." Delicious!" said the rich man. When the dinner was finished, he went to bed happily, full of ginger buds.
In the morning, the innkeeper saw the rich man off at the front door. As soon as he was out of sight, she raced up to his room. She looked all over the room for the money belt, but she couldn't find it. Suddenly, she noticed a piece of paper on the floor. It was the rich man's bill. He had forgotten to pay 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.
