"Mahou no Yama," or The Magical Mountain, is inspired by a traditional Japanese folk-tale titled "The Stone Cutter," although no one in Japan seems to have heard of it. The premise, though, is familar to everyone: a disatisfied man transforms into different beings in search of happiness, only to revert back to himself in the end. I made this book to practice my Japanese pronuncation. In turn, my English students made storybooks to practice their English, and we read the stories to each other. The illustrations are made using cut-out shapes of Japanese paper, or washi, and construction paper. Copies of the 20-page cream-colored book feature full-color pages written in Japanese hirigana. The English translation is located on the back pages. The entire story is located below. Once upon a time, there was a gardener who lived on a magical mountain. He enjoyed his life, but he was always very busy. He wanted a different life. One day, he went to the castle to plant a tree in the garden. He saw the king's big, expensive home and became jealous of the king's money. "I want to become a king," said the gardener. Suddenly, he became a king! How? The magical mountain granted his wish! He was a king for a while, but he soon got bored. He stared at the sun. The sun was very large and powerful. He grew jealous of the sun's power. "I want to become the sun," said the gardener. Then, he became the sun. He was the sun for a week but got a fever. A cloud floated by. The cloud was blue and could move around. The gardener became jealous of the cloud's freedom. "Now I want to be a cloud," he said. Can you guess what happened next? The magical mountain granted his wish, and he became a cloud! He was a cloud for a few days but eventually got motion sickness. "I move around too much," he thought. Then he passed over a green hill. It looked stable and strong. Well, he became jealous of the hill's stability. "I want to be a hill," he yelled. And, of course, he became a hill. After a few hours as a hill, the gardener became frustrated. He was tired of trying to be things that he was not. He needed to be himself. "Please, magical mountain, I want to be myself again!" The magical mountain granted his wish. The gardener was no longer a king, the sun, a cloud, or a hill, but he was happier than ever before.