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Hyotoku, Iwate Prefecture, Part Two.
The child was still fiddling with its navel when they got back to the old man's home.
One day, when the old man lightly poked the navel
with a metal chopstick usually used as fire tongs,
a piece of gold popped out from the navel.
From then on, it happened three times a day.
Soon the old man became very rich,
but his wife was a greedy woman and she wanted to get more.
When the old man was out, she picked up the metal chopstick
and poked the navel with force, piercing it.
No gold piece came out and the child died.
When the old man returned home and found the child was dead, he wept.
The child appeared to the old man in a dream and said,
"Don't cry, old man. But make a mask.
Make it look like my face and hang it on the post in the cooking place
where you will see it every day, and then your family will prosper."
The child's name was Hyotoku.
After this, in the village around the area,
it became custom to hang an ugly Hyotoku mask made of wood or clay
on the post called "Iron-Pot Man" in front of the old brick stove.
Thank you for watching.
This is The Faustian Man.