George Smith, the Dutiful Son

A merchant entrusts the money that could save his family to an old acquaintance’s inn. He never returns. While the innkeeper prospers, the missing man’s wife and children descend into poverty, and his dutiful son searches for help in a city where debts, fine clothes, and social standing decide who is heard.

A compassionate daughter, a grasping neighbor, and a master roofer with a long memory draw the families into an increasingly dangerous tangle. Love grows across the division between wealth and hardship, while a stolen receipt and a conversation overheard on a snowy night threaten to reveal a concealed crime.

San’yūtei Enchō, the celebrated nineteenth-century storyteller, introduces this as an English tale learned by word of mouth and retells it with Japanese names and Meiji-era settings. His spoken asides, sharp exchanges, comic misunderstandings, and moral reflections turn a story of filial devotion into an absorbing drama of greed and obligation. This complete new English translation preserves all eight sittings, with brief notes on names, customs, and textual discrepancies.