“No, child. How came you to think of such a thing?”

“Because mother says I look like Shibusawa, and I don’t see why I shouldn’t be just like him.”

“You shall be Shibusawa’s friend and confidant.”

“Why shall I be his friend and confidant?”

“Because you will comfort and console him during moments of contemplation and despair, just as you have myself since you were first able to tread about my gardens on wooden stilts.”

“Why will I comfort and console him?”

“Because you are the son of—only a mother, who is of Kishemogin and possessed of less wit and more cunning than a fox. Now then, hie you away to your mother’s mat and feast well upon rice and fish so that you may grow strong in endurance, for you shall have many and severe trials in following this youth ere he has much passed your age.”

“Oh,” said Maido, to himself, “see him run away in obedience to my command! There is not yet a twig so crooked or a thing so small but it can be made of use. As the mould is shaped so will be the cast. He is of the right material. I shall see that he grows up after my liking, bend him to the task properly, and thus provide the instrument through which Shibusawa may acquit himself of the thankless duties imposed by Bishamon, god of provocation.”