The ronin thoughtfully assented. »That is so: very few of us endeavor with all our might to approach perfection. It is easy to condemn the poor washerwoman for her envy which even after her death remained in this world, taking her form for its own. But who knows whether at the bottom of my heart there does not lie a hundred times greater anger . . . an anger that is driving me forever over the world from place to place?« His eyes flashed and he gnashed his teeth.« Yes, such is my case. But what can you look for in a ronin but blows of fate that peradventure did not yet cease to hurt! Do not be too much disappointed with my dishonorable worthlessness.«
Odjisan, however, lifted his head once more; his eyes brightened and quickened. It seemed that after all more could be expected from this ronin than monkish preaching. Oh, we all have our wounds, he remarked; but not all of us have the opportunity to heal them by forgetting, like honorable ronins, who roam all over the country, see many things and live through exciting adventures. And pleading his advanced age in excuse of his curiosity, he asked him what had befallen him that was so terrible.
Perhaphs the ronin was just in the mood to open his heart to somebody; or mayhap the great and holy peace that enveloped the coutryside, ripening for harvest, loosened his habit of reserve. »What happened to me was awful.« he said in a changed voice, and the old man noticed that beads of perspiration gathered upon his brow. »I revolted against priestly power; the abbot of a Buddhist monastery intrigued against my daimyo, and at the same time deluded him with honeyed words; he incensed the powerful and generous daimyo against us, his courtiers and vassals; he attained an ever stronger hold over the populace. Our daimyo finally shaved his head and entered an order, relinquishing his estates in favor of the monastery. We made an attempt to save our lord from the treachery, but it was too late. My family was put to death and I fled as an outlaw . . . But in the end the abbot overreached himself, trying to instigate an elaborate plot against neighboring daimyos. They united against him, routed his forces, and he barely escaped with his life. It is not known with certainty where he took refuge; but doli ever it was, my hatred surely followed him there. And therefore I remained a ronin, though I could have returned into the service of my daimyo. What kind of a life could I have led in a country where everything reminded me only of my lost family, my lost happiness? My hartred would have grown, but I wished to subdue and overcome it. That is why I am a ronin. I wish to walk away and think down my hatred. I see a great deal of suf-
