e the rain fall, and the pattering drops felt so cool and
refreshing, that he worked on, strengthening the terrace to resist the
little flood about to come.

* * * * *

Pretty soon the storm rattled very near him, and he thought he had better
seek shelter, lest the thunder should strike and kill him. For Bimbo,
like all his neighbors, had often heard stories of Kaijin, the god of the
thunder-drums, who lives in the skies and rides on the storm, and
sometimes kills people by throwing out of the clouds at them a terrible
creature like a cat, with iron-like claws and a hairy body.

Just as Bimbo threw his hoe over his shoulder and started to move, a
terrible blinding flash of lightning dazzled his eyes. It was immediately
followed by a deafening crash, and the thunder fell just in front of him.
He covered his eyes with his hands, but finding himself unhurt, uttered a
prayer of thanks to Buddha for safety. Then he uncovered his eyes and
looked down at his feet.

There lay a little boy, rosy and warm, and crowing in the most lively
manner, and never minding the rain in the least. The farmer's eyes opened
very wide, but happy and nearly surprised out of his senses, he picked up
the child tenderly in his arms, and took him home to his old wife.

"Here's a gift from Raijin," said Bimbo. "We'll adopt him as our own son
and call him Rai-taro," (the first-born darling of the thunder).

So the boy grew up and became a very dutiful and loving child. He was as
kind and obedient to his foster-parents as though he had been born in
their house. He never liked to play with other children, but kept all day
in the fields with his father, sporting with the rivulet and looking at
the clouds and sky. Even when the strolling players of the Dai Kagura
(the comedy which makes the gods laugh) and the "Lion of Corea" came into
the village, and every boy and girl and nurse and woman was sure to be
out in great glee, the child of the thunder stayed up in the field, or
climbed on the high rocks to watch the sailing of the birds and the
flowing of the water and the river far away.

Great prosperity seemed to come to the farmer, and he laid it all to the
sweet child that fell to him from the clouds. It was very curious that
rain often fell on Bimbo's field when none fell elsewhere; so that Bimbo
grew rich and changed his name to Kanemochi. He believed that the boy
Raitaro beckoned to the clouds, and they shed their