TAJIMA, By Miss Mitford


Once upon a time, a certain ronin, Tajima Shume by name, an able and
well-read man, being on his travels to see the world, went up to Kiyoto
by the Tokaido. [The road of the Eastern Sea, the famous highroad
leading from Kiyoto to Yedo. The name is also used to indicate the
provinces through which it runs.] One day, in the neighbourhood of
Nagoya, in the province of Owari, he fell in with a wandering priest,
with whom he entered into conversation. Finding that they were bound for
the same place, they agreed to travel together, beguiling their weary
way by pleasant talk on divers matters; and so by degrees, as they
became more intimate, they began to speak without restraint about their
private affairs; and the priest, trusting thoroughly in the honour of
his companion, told him the object of his journey.

"For some time past," said he, "I have nourished a wish that has
engrossed all my thoughts; for I am bent on setting up a molten image
in honour of Buddha; with this object I have wandered through various
provinces collecting alms, and (who knows by what weary toil?) we have
succeeded in amassing two hundred ounces of silver--enough, I trust, to
erect a handsome bronze figure."

What says the proverb? "He who bears a jewel in his bosom bears poison."
Hardly had the ronin heard these words of the priest than an evil heart
arose within him, and he thought to himself, "Man's life, from the womb
to the grave, is made up of good and of ill luck. Here am I, nearly
forty years old, a wanderer, without a calling, or even a hope of
advancement in the world. To be sure, it seems a shame; yet if I could