The Mountains of Tibet by Mordicai Gerstein
In a tiny village, high in the mountains of Tibet, lives a woodcutter. All his life he has longed to travel to faraway places, to see the world. But he grows old without ever leaving the mountian. When he dies, he is suddenly offered the chance to live another life, in any form he wants, anywhere in the galaxies. Carefully he decides... and finds himself in a place he never thought he would choose.