The sound of a trumpet across a Japanese mountain valley leads a young man to befriend a mysterious stranger. During repeated visits to the cave where the stranger has set up home, the young man learns about his past - in the mines, villages and ports of the region. The stranger's hilarious, bawdy and touching narratives captivate the young man, but he begins to doubt their veracity. Finally, as the young man decides his own fate, the full truth about the stranger is revealed.

'Tales from a Mountain Cave' is a translation of Hisashi Inoue's highly popular 'Shinshaku Tono...