When the honest old couple found out about this, they were overcome with grief. They decided to dig a grave for Shiro. Upon burying Shiro, a sapling sprouted from the ground above his grave. By the next day, it had grown into a towering tree.
"Shiro liked steamed rice cakes," recalled the old man.
"Let's make some to take to his grave." He chopped down the tree that had sprung from Shiro's grave and made a mortar. Then he and his wife beganto prepare the rice cakes. As the old man pounded the rice into the mortar, it began to turn into gold coins.