There once lived an old man who had a cyst on his cheek.
It was a rather big, ugly cyst and very hard to hide.
"Ooh! I wish you were gone!" the man shouted at his cyst.
The old man took medicines and applied creams.
He even tried removing it by force.
Whatever he did was useless because the cyst continued to grow bigger each day.
Despite the ugly cyst, the old man had a good heart.
He shared what he had with others.
"I have more than enough!" he often said.
While walking home one day, the sky suddenly turned dark.
A terrible thunderstorm began, so the man ran for shelter.
He found a hollow tree and hid inside it until the storm passed.
When the rain finally stopped, the man stepped out of the tree.
Suddenly he heard strange sounds of laughter and singing.
"What in the world?" he wondered.
The old man gasped at the sight.
Just behind the tree, a group of goblins had gathered.
They appeared to be having a party—dancing, singing, and drinking.
As the old man watched, he soon began to enjoy himself too.
One of the goblins was a terrible dancer.
The goblin leader could not stand to watch him anymore.
"Stop! You're making me dizzy!
Can anyone teach this poor goblin to dance?" he begged.
"Oh, I can!"
The old man stepped into their view.
"I used to be a dancer. See?" the old man said cheerfully.
He showed the goblins his dancing skills.
Well, there was no doubt, the old man knew how to move.
All the goblins, including the leader, were impressed.
"You must come back tomorrow night and teach us more steps!" said the leader.
"I can teach you the tango!" the old man replied eagerly.
"As a sign of promise, give me something that belongs to you," said the leader.
He then removed the cyst from the man's face.
It was gone!
The big, ugly cyst was finally gone.
The old man ran home and told his wife the strange story.
"Your skin is smooth as a baby's," his wife remarked.
"Just look at me!
My cyst is gone forever!"
The man began to dance.
Next door lived the greedy landlord of the house.
His favorite pastime was counting his money and gold.
Unfortunately for him, he had a big, ugly cyst too, but on his left cheek.
"I'm here to collect the rent," he told the old man.
"I'm sorry, but I promise to pay it by tomorrow," the old man begged.
"What happened to your cyst?" the landlord pointed.
The old man told him about the goblins.
"Then in exchange for your rent, I shall go see these goblins tonight," the greedy man replied.
The old man had no choice but to allow the landlord to go instead of him.
The landlord did exactly as the old man did.
He hid in the hollow tree and waited until it got dark.
Soon he heard dancing and singing, just as the old man had said.
The leader of the goblins looked around.
"I hope the old man keeps his promise," he said.
At that moment the greedy landlord jumped out, spreading his fans.
Pretending to be the old man, he began dancing.
But unfortunately he was an awful dancer!
"What happened to the tango?" asked one goblin.
"Forget the tango.
Do this!" the old man shouted back.
He jumped up and down like a chicken.
Finally the leader could stand it no more.
"Stop it! We were wrong!
You are a horrible dancer," yelled the leader.
"Here, I give you back what I took!"
The leader threw the cyst onto the right cheek.
The landlord was greedy and had tricked the goblins.
So he was left with a cyst on each cheek.