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ABOUT YOSHZTSUNE. 131
as well as to look
coats," to keep them warm and dry
like the grass itself, and with wide, flat hats to shed
the dew, they waited patiently, each in his coigne of
vantage.
When the birds rose upward and flew past their
hiding-places, the fowlers threw before them into
the air a large triangular net set in a frame which
was fixed at the end of a long pole. A skillful
hunter rarely failed to net one and sometimes two
or three ducks ;
but it was rare to get more than one
goose at a time. Not often, however, did a man on
a well-chosen bluff near the rice-fields fail to bring
home a bird. Tied to the pole-net each lier-in-wait
had a cord many yards in length to make sure of
his quarry not escaping.
One morning Mr. Rai's nephew, Honda Jiro, presented
himself at breakfast time, and, laying down a
fat goose, begged Mr. Rai to accept it.
" I '11 do it with greediness, Mr. Honda ;
that is,
I '11 take your goose and invite you to eat it with us
at dinner this evening. You see, I want you and
the goose both. I request you to take my place as
story-teller, and then I Ml promise to show you something
from Yedo."
" Oh, yes do, Mr. Honda ! ; '11
say you come and
tell us the story of Benke"i and Yoshitsune'. Father
said you could do it so well."
" Yes, do, ray good nephew," said Mr. Rai " ;
and
you may mix in some of the stories of the tengus,
which they tell to account for the boy's wonderful
wisdom.
I have traveled with them in the rice-lands