Ara!—Joyfully young Daikoko and Ebisu enter dancing
Shall we tell a tale, or shall we utter felicitations? A tale: then of what is it best that we should tell? Since we are bidden to your august house to relate a story, we shall relate the story of Shuntoku.
Surely there once lived, in the Province of Kawachi, a very rich man called Nobuyoshi. And his eldest son was called Shuntoku-maru.
When Shuntoku-maru, that eldest son, was only three years old, his mother died. And when he was five years old, there was given to him a stepmother.
When he was seven years old, his stepmother gave birth to a son who was called Otowaka-maru. And the two brothers grew up together.
When Shuntoku became sixteen years old, he went to Kyoto, to the temple of Tenjin-Sama, to make offerings to the god.
There he saw a thousand people going to the temple, and a thousand returning, and a thousand remaining: there was a gathering of three thousand persons(1).
Through that multitude the youngest daughter of a rich man called Hagiyama was being carried to the temple in a kago(2). Shuntoku also was traveling in a kago; and the two kago moved side by side along the way.
Gazing on the girl, Shuntoku fell in love with her. And the two exchanged looks and letters of love.
All this was told to the stepmother of Shuntoku by a servant that was a flatterer.