cry of horror;--for he say, by the light of his lantern, that
the clamminess was blood. But he perceived Hoichi sitting there, in the
attitude of meditation--with the blood still oozing from his wounds.

"My poor Hoichi!" cried the startled priest,--"what is this?... You
have been hurt?"

At the sound of his friend's voice, the blind man felt safe. He burst
out sobbing, and tearfully told his adventure of the night.

"Poor, poor Hoichi!" the priest exclaimed,--"all my fault!--my very
grievous fault!... Everywhere upon your body the holy texts had been
written--except upon your ears! I trusted my acolyte to do that part of
the work; and it was very, very wrong of me not to have made sure that
he had done it!... Well, the matter cannot now be helped;--we can only
try to heal your hurts as soon as possible... Cheer up, friend!--the
danger is now well over. You will never again be troubled by those
visitors."

With the aid of a good doctor, Hoichi soon recovered from his injuries.
The story of his strange adventure spread far and wide, and soon made
him famous. Many noble persons went to Akamagaseki to hear him recite;
and large presents of money were given to him,--so that he became a
wealthy man... But from the time of his adventure, he was known only by
the appellation of Mimi-nashi-Hoichi: "Hoichi-the-Earless."

OSHIDORI

There was a falconer and hunter, named Sonjo, who lived in the district
called Tamura-no-Go, of the province of Mutsu. One day he went out
hunting, and could not find any game. But on his way home, at a place
called Akanuma, he perceived a pair of oshidori [1] (mandarin-ducks),
swimming together in a river that he was about to cross. To kill
oshidori is not good; but Sonjo happened to be very hungry, and he shot
at the pair. His arrow pierced the male: the female escaped into the
rushes of the further shore, and disappeared. Sonjo took the dead bird
home, and cooked it.

That night he dreamed a dreary dream. It seemed to him that a beautiful
woman came into his room, and stood by his pillow, and began to weep.
So bitterly did she weep that Sonjo felt as if his heart were being
torn out while he listened. And the woman cried to him: "Why,--oh! why
did you kill him?--of what wrong was he guilty?... At Akanuma we were
so happy together,--and you killed him!... What harm did he ever do
you? Do you even know what you have done?--oh! do you know what a
cruel, what a wicked thing you have don