I returned from Naniwa by the hidden way. Flowers blossomed along the moors. I never saw more lovely, and where the corpse had lain children were dancing in a ring. Where the broken house had crouched among trees, was a shrine to the Thousand-Handed Spirit of Mercy beloved in Japan. A child lay in her bosom and her hidden eyes were bent upon it in a moonlight rapture. May I live in that country for the eternities!
I crossed the bridge and walked beside the river to the garden of Arima. He sat by the water plaiting a basket of willow, and rose, bowing, to meet me.
“I have come,” I said, “to learn jujutsu.”
He smiled.
I have learnt it and with it the secret of power. I go in and out of Kazuma’s garden. And beyond.
And the Abbot, who was once Kazuma, and will be more, sits there, girded with his sword.
THE END
TRANSCRIBER NOTES
Misspelled words and printer errors have been corrected. Where multiple spellings occur, majority use has been employed.