A Japanese miscellany - University of Oregon

Kogi the Priest 71
sight ; and I waited. After a few minutes there
came up, from the bottom of the lake, — riding
on the back of the same big fish that had spoken
to me, — a man wearing the headdress and the
ceremonial
—
robes of a prince ; and the man said
to me :
'1 come to you with a message from
the Dragon-King, who knows of your desire to
enjoy for a little time the condition of a fish.
As you have saved the lives of many fish, and
have always shown compassion to living crea-
tures, the God now bestows upon you the attire
of the Golden Carp, so that you will be able to
enjoy the pleasures of the Water-World. But
you must be very careful not to eat any fish, or
any food prepared from fish, — no matter how
nice may be the smell of it ; — and you must
also take great care not to get caught by the
fishermen, or to hurt your body in any way.'
With these words, the messenger and his fish
went below and vanished in the deep water. I
looked at myself, and saw that my whole body
had become covered with scales that shone like
gold; — I
saw that I had fins; — I found that I
had actually been changed into a Golden Carp.
Then I knew that I could swim wherever I
pleased.