Then Samébito stopped weeping, and asked his master to be so good as to explain the nature of his speedy recovery.
So Tōtarō told the Shark-Man of his love-affair and of the marriage-gift demanded by the family of Tamana. "I thought," added Tōtarō, "that I should never be able to get ten thousand jewels, and it was that thought that brought me so near to death. Now your tears have turned into jewels, and with these the maid will become my wife."
Tōtarō proceeded to count the jewels with great eagerness. "Not enough! Not enough!" he exclaimed with considerable disappointment. "Oh, Samébito, be so good as to weep a little more!"
These words made Samébito angry. "Do you think," said he, "I can weep at will like women? My tears come from the heart, the outward sign of true and deep sorrow. I can weep no longer, for you are well again. Surely the time has come for laughter and merrymaking, and not for tears."
"Unless I get ten thousand jewels, I cannot marry the fair Tamana," said Tōtarō. "What am I to do? Oh, good friend, weep, weep!"
Samébito was a kindly creature. After a pause, he said: "I can shed no more tears to-day. Let us go to-morrow to the Long Bridge of Séta, and take with us a good supply of wine and fish. It may be that as I sit on the bridge and gaze toward the Dragon Palace, I shall weep again, thinking of my lost home, and longing to return once more."
On the morrow they went to the Séta Bridge, and after Samébito had taken a good deal of wine, he gazed in the direction of the Dragon Kingdom. As he did so his eyes filled with tears, red tears that turned into rubies as soon as they touched the bridge. Tōtarō, without very much concern for his friend's sorrow, picked up the jewels, and found at last that he had ten thousand lustrous rubies.
Just at that moment they heard a sound of sweet music, and from the water there rose a cloud-like palace, with all the colours of the setting sun shining upon it. Samébito gave a shout of joy and sprang upon the parapet of the bridge, saying: "Farewell, my master! The Dragon Kings are calling!" With these words he leaped from the bridge and returned to his old home again.
Tōtarō lost no time in presenting the casket containing ten thousand jewels to Tamana's parents, and in due season he married their lovely daughter.