I hope it would not be out of line to post a story here rather than give a link. And, since I will go ahead and do so, I ask for everyone's understanding, please.
Monogusa Taro (and they do love that 'Taro' name, ne...)
In the area of Shinano, there once live a very lazy man. His was called 'Monogusa Taro' by the local farmers because he was so lazy. He lived in a hut made from straw mats because he was too lazy to build a house and the farmers brought him things to eat from time to time.
One day, a kind farmer brought Monogusa Taro five rice balls. He ate four of them right away, but dropped one, and it rolled out into the road. He was too lazy to get up and go get it, so he decided to wait until someone would come along.
At last, the governor of the area came passing by. Monogusa Taro asked him to pick up the rice ball and give it to him. The governor was very surprized that such a poor man would ask such a thing to the governor of the area, but also took some interest in Monogusa Taro.
When the time came for the governor to make a trip to
Kyoto, Monogusa Taro was chosen to go with him. (Someone from the area had to go with him and all the farmers were busy with their farms, so they had persuaded Monogusa Taro to go with him by saying that there were many beautiful women there.) After some days, it was time to leave kyoto, and Monogusa Taro went to Kiyomizu temple again to see if he could meet a beautiful woman. Finally, one woman he met gave him a reply in prose, thinking that that would ward him off since only the finest of high society would understand what it had meant.
Monogusa Taro understood it and cleaned up and went to her house the next day. She soon realized how skillful he was in poetry and as time went on, word of it got to the emperor as well. As it turned out, Monogusa Taro was a descendent of royality. He married with the woman he had met and was raised to a high position. In turn, Monogusa Taro promoted the governor of the Shinano area and gave land to those farmers who had given him a bite to eat when he had been living among them.
(This story originates, it is said, in Niimura, Nagano, Japan--where the uni I work at is. There is a monument there and a small park giving the basics of the story.)