Once upon a time, there lived a rich man in a country village. His surname was Choi and he was very wealthy and rather stingy. He showed no kindness to others and never gave anything to his neighbors in need. People would speak ill of the cold-hearted miser behind his back, but he didn’t care at all.

One day, Mr. Choi had to go to the capital of Hanyang on business. Before leaving, he left the key of the store house with his wife. He always kept the key himself and never showed it to anyone else, but he was worried that he might lose the important key while traveling. So, he gave the key to his wife and repeatedly asked her to keep it carefully and not to let anyone into the storeroom.

After Mr. Choi left, his wife opened the store house with the key. As her husband always took care of the key by himself, it was the first time for her to enter the storeroom. To her surprise, the room was filled with sacks of grains piled mountain-high. She knew her family was rich, but she didn’t realize there was such a huge amount of grains stored up. She thought to herself, ‘We have so much food in here. I wish I could share it with my neighbors. What’s wrong with winning the hearts of people?” After much thought, she decided to distribute some of the grains to needy neighbors.

Soon after, the whole village was thrown into commotion, as poor households in the village each received a large sack of rice. For the village people, it was all the more astonishing to learn that the rice came from Mr. Choi, the notorious miser.

Around that time, Mr. Choi was crossing the river on a ferryboat. About halfway across the river, a large, black thing suddenly soared from the water. Mr. Choi was so startled that he couldn’t figure out what the dreadful thing was for a while. The thing began to say, “I’m a one-thousand-year-old python. I’ve been eating one bad person each year to become a dragon. Now, I only need one more human being to finally become a dragon. I’ve been waiting for you. I heard you are only interested in satisfying your own needs and ignore poor people. How greedy you are!”

Mr. Choi was shocked and terrified. He began to cry and plead for mercy. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I was really bad. Please spare my life for mercy’s sake. I’ll return the favor for the rest of my life and be grateful to you forever. Please don’t kill me.” The python’s face seemed to soften a little. Changing its attitude, the monster serpent said in a gentle voice, “I’d say you are such a lucky man. Your wife did something very good on your behalf, so I can’t kill you. I’ll let you go. You must thank your wife.” With these words, the scary creature disappeared into the water.

Mr. Choi gathered his senses, and he began to wonder what his wife had done. He stopped his trip to the capital and traveled back home. Meanwhile, at home, the wife was waiting nervously for her husband. She was afraid of being scolded by him for giving out rice to neighbors without his permission. When her husband arrived at home, she told him everything and begged for his forgiveness. She thought he would be furious, but contrary to her expectation, he smiled and thanked her. He told her what had happened to him on the river.

From that day on, Mr. Choi and his wife showed compassion to neighbors in need, leading a life of virtue.