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118 HONDA THE SAMURAI.
baby, Yoshitsune', at her breast, she faced the storm
and cold until she reached shelter in a village
of
Yamato. But even there the He'ike' tracked her
out, and she and her children were carried to the
capital. Kiyomori had already seized her mother
and brought her to Kyoto, expecting to use her influence
to win over the daughter. Yielding to the
threats, persuasions, and teasing of her mother, and
for the sake of her children, she entered the harem
of Kiyomori, the regent of the empire. For their
mother's sake he pardoned the three children. One
became a priest in a monastery, one a page to the
Mikado's son; but the baby, when weaned, was removed
to the monastery on Mount Kurama, six
miles north of Kyoto. The monks were ordered
to educate the boy, and it was expected that he
would in time become a priest."
"Is this the same Tokiwa after whom one of oui
castle gates is named ? " asked Taro.
" The same, my son."
" And is the evergreen-tree named after her ? "
" I rather think that she was named after the tree,
which existed first and long before she did," said Mr.
Rai, smiling, "even as this river out here existed
before the city at its side. The name means ' the
unchangeable stone,' that is, always the same, and
when we wish to speak of what is eternal, we use a
word in which this word occurs. Certainly her
name is immortal.
" This boy child was Yoshitsune', the future hero.
Being yet a mere child, he did not know who his