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ABOUT YOSHITSUNE. 139
" I do not know ;
but Uh6i says
if the sailors give
them any kind of a vessel with a bottom in it, they
will dip up the sea-water into the boat so quickly as
soon to fill and sink it. So the sailors always hand
them a dipper with the bottom knocked out. The
poor ghosts do not know the difference and thus
work all night for nothing."
" "
How stupid a ghost must be ! said Taro. " No
winder the Buddhist priests can lay them so easily.
Father says some of the bonzes earn half their
money by laying ghosts."
" Well, the ghost episode is past, anyhow," said
Honda, " and now the most interesting part of the
story is to come.
" Then came the trial of the faithful retainer ; for
Yoshitsun fell into disgrace and was outlawed by
his brother Yoritomo. Again and again did Benk^i
give proof of his valor and many-sided wit, by
which he saved his master's life.
"When Yoshitsun^ fled with his followers from Kyoto
to the north, they took the route through Echizen
and Kaga. They put on the disguise of wandering
priests or mendicant friars, called Yamabushi. Each
one wore on his head a little
skull-cap, and strapped
on his back a portable shrine full of gilded idols of
Buddha. To protect themselves against rain, snow,
and the sun, they had woven wide hats called 'roofs,'
slung over their shoulders. The vagrant priests
earned their living by begging from door to door,
but were allowed to travel freely all over the country.
Before they started, and while on their way,