Then he mustered up all the strength he had left and crawled to the big tree with the hollow trunk. There he fell down, a heap of skin and bones, and called feebly for the dragon. When this terrible creature came out it blew fire and smoke at him in awful wrath.
“I thought you wanted to be a fox with nine golden tails. Why have you disturbed me?” it thundered.
“A fox with nine golden tails is a nice thing to talk about,” the poor fox whimpered, “but a wise man is better than a dead fox, even if it had twenty golden tails, so make me a wizard, Great One, and then will I trouble you no more.”
“Bah!” cried the dragon with such fury that the flames from its mouth flew up to the top of the hollow tree. When they died away the fox was nowhere to be seen. In his place stood a very solemn-looking old man with green spectacles and a bald head.
“Dear me, this is most peculiar,” he mumbled, as he pulled his long gray whiskers thoughtfully. “I will go to the nearest village and get something to eat, then I’ll come back and talk to that dragon a while. If I can find out some of his secrets I will make myself the wisest man that ever lived and then will I become the richest.”
From one end of the land to the other, and even to the islands far off the coast, spread the fame of the great magician who lived in a cave on the sea shore. Princes talked about him in their castles, and the very poorest people in their little bamboo-covered huts as they counted their grains of rice told of the wonderful wisdom of the Cave Man, as he was called. “He can do many strange things, but there is no use going to him if you have not money,” they said sadly. “He is hungry for gold.”
Meanwhile the Cave Man waxed rich. The floor of his cavern home was strewn with shining gold, ornaments of silver and ivory were on the walls, and he had great bags of glittering jewels and treasures of untold value, all given him by those who had come to him for help.
He could tell when it would rain and when a man must plant his crop to reap a full harvest, where money was hidden if it had been stolen and who had taken it, who was the right girl for a man to marry and who was his secret enemy, he knew what would cure the sick, what would drive away evil spirits and everything that any one could ask him. But he was also very cruel. When the poor sought him in their sorrow he took away their last cent, and he gave neither to the sick nor to the hungry.
“A wise man is greater than Princes or Kings,” he boasted. “Some day I will rule the land and all men shall pay tribute to me.” And he grew richer and richer every day. But still he was not happy. No matter how many costly and beautiful gifts were brought him, he was never satisfied. He became so mean and miserly that at last the good King said:
“We must rid ourselves of this man. Too long have I borne patiently with him and allowed him to oppress my people. He is very dangerous. If left alone he may do great harm and become the curse of the Kingdom. He has wisdom and wealth and they have not contented him. What will he want next? Our heads, perhaps.”