“Jan-ken-pon!”
I won; and so was the chief. The rest went on jan-ken-ponning till the imp was decided.
Now all except the imp held firmly each other’s belt on the back, in a line, with me at the head. It is a pity you don’t have any belt on your dress, and so play the sport. It is very convenient to us. Apart from its use in sport, when we meet a robber, we throw him down by jiu-jitsu, and, untying our belt, bind him up hand and foot! But to return. I was ready with the imp in front and with my “little ones” behind, like the body of a centipede. The imp could not touch me; he could only seize any one behind. I stretched my arms, ran to and fro to prevent the imp from getting round to my flanks. The line swayed, rolled, jerked like a serpent in a rapid flight. And the motion would all but throw weak-armed ones off their holds. But they merrily persisted, and could have held on longer but for their mirth being worked up too high by the very manner of the imp himself.
The boy who played that part was a born comedian. He loved his fun more than his bread. Once in the midst of his supper he heard a man come with a monkey dressed in a kimono. No sooner than he recognized that by the sound of a drum, he threw away his chop-sticks, and, running out of his house, danced all way up the street with the professional monkey as his wondering spectator. Now in playing his part as the imp, he did not go about it like an eagle intent on his prey. But he brought all his talent into full play in every motion of his body, suggestive of some grotesque form, heightened by a queer ejaculation. When, in his series of performances, he imitated a pig, flapping his hands from his head like large ears of the animal and grunting, Gr-r-r-r, Gr-r-r-r, it caused everybody to burst into laughter. At this moment he made a sudden turn, which caused such a jerk to the line, that, being absent-minded from merriment, they were all thrown out of their hold, each rolling on the grass, but still laughing at the grunting. The imp could now jump at anybody for his prey, but as a true comedian, he also rolled on the grass, laughing with the rest.
CHAPTER VI
CHINESE EDUCATION
My Chinese Teacher—How I Was Taught—Versification—My Uncle—Clam Fishing—A Flatfish.
Some months after I entered the public school, my father came to a conclusion that what was taught there was too modern to have enough of culture value. My education had to be supplemented by the study of Chinese classics. And his intention would have been of great benefit to me if he had been equally wise in selecting a good private teacher. As it was, I gained but a fraction of it, undergoing a hard struggle.
There lived a Chinese scholar near by, who was second to none in his learning within three miles. Formerly he was a priest of Zen sect, the Unitarian of Buddhism. As it was considered most laudable to a man of his calling, he never ate fish or meat, and had two frugal meals a day, taking only a cupful of starch and sugar in the evening, till he came to lead a secular life. Starch and sugar!—so he must have come to have such white hair, I thought. Anyway, the snowy mass heightened the expression of his earnest face, rather youthful for a man of sixty. He was, indeed, the classic itself; the rhythm of it seemed to be ringing in his veins, whether awake or asleep. And he delighted in nothing so much as to eat his dinner listening to the clear-voiced chanting of boys reviewing their lesson, as if they were minstrels entertaining at a king’s feast! And, of course, I was sent to him.