room.

But no sooner did Tokubei see the priest than he yelled out, "Help!
help! Here is the wandering priest come to torment me again. Forgive!
forgive!" and hiding his head under the coverlet, he lay quivering all
over. Then the priest turned all present out of the room, put his mouth
to the affrighted man's ear, and whispered:

"Three years ago, at the Kuana ferry, you flung me into the water; and
well you remember it."

But Tokubei was speechless, and could only quake with fear.

"Happily," continued the priest, "I had learned to swim and to dive as
a boy; so I reached the shore, and, after wandering through many
provinces, succeeded in setting up a bronze figure to Buddha, thus
fulfilling the wish of my heart. On my journey homeward, I took a
lodging in the next street, and there heard of your marvellous ailment.
Thinking I could divine its cause, I came to see you, and am glad to
find I was not mistaken. You have done a hateful deed; but am I not a
priest, and have I not forsaken the things of this world, and would it
not ill become me to bear malice? Repent, therefore, and abandon your
evil ways. To see you do so I should esteem the height of happiness. Be
of good cheer, now, and look me in the face, and you will see that I am
really a living man, and no vengeful goblin come to torment you."

Seeing he had no ghost to deal with, and overwhelmed by the priest's
kindness, Tokubei burst into tears, and answered, "Indeed, indeed, I
don't know what to say. In a fit of madness I was tempted to kill and
rob you. Fortune befriended me ever after; but the richer I grew, the