.
Perhaps you have seen the cause."

Then Muso told of the dim and awful Shape that had entered the
death-chamber to devour the body and the offerings. No person seemed to
be surprised by his narration; and the master of the house observed:--

"What you have told us, reverend Sir, agrees with what has been said
about this matter from ancient time."

Muso then inquired:--

"Does not the priest on the hill sometimes perform the funeral service
for your dead?"

"What priest?" the young man asked.

"The priest who yesterday evening directed me to this village,"
answered Muso. "I called at his anjitsu on the hill yonder. He refused
me lodging, but told me the way here."

The listeners looked at each other, as in astonishment; and, after a
moment of silence, the master of the house said:--

"Reverend Sir, there is no priest and there is no anjitsu on the hill.
For the time of many generations there has not been any resident-priest
in this neighborhood."

Muso said nothing more on the subject; for it was evident that his kind
hosts supposed him to have been deluded by some goblin. But after
having bidden them farewell, and obtained all necessary information as
to his road, he determined to look again for the hermitage on the hill,
and so to ascertain whether he had really been deceived. He found the
anjitsu without any difficulty; and, this time, its aged occupant
invited him to enter. When he had done so, the hermit humbly bowed down
before him, exclaiming:--"Ah! I am ashamed!--I am very much ashamed!--I
am exceedingly ashamed!"

"You need not be ashamed for having refused me shelter," said Muso.
"You directed me to the village yonder, where I was very kindly
treated; and I thank you for that favor.

"I can give no man shelter," the recluse made answer;--and it is not
for the refusal that I am ashamed. I am ashamed only that you should
have seen me in my real shape,--for it was I who devoured the corpse
and the offerings last night before your eyes... Know, reverend Sir,
that I am a jikininki, [1]--an eater of human flesh. Have pity upon me,
and suffer me to confess the secret fault by which I became reduced to
this condition.

"A long, long time ago, I was a priest in this desolate region. There
was no other priest for many leagues around. So, in that time, the
bodies of the mountain-folk who died used to be brought
here,--sometimes from great distances,--in order that I might repeat
over them the holy servi