Page:Anthology of Japanese Literature.pdf/224

220 and locked my storehouse without removing it. Then the storehouse began to shake and sway, and now it has flown all the way here. Please return it to me.”

“It is, to be sure, most remarkable, but since it came here of its own accord I cannot return the storehouse to you. I have never had anything of the kind, and it will be convenient for me to keep things in. However, you may take away whatever is inside as soon as you wish,” replied the holy man.

“But how,” asked the rich man, “can I carry these things home with me now? There are a thousand measures of rice inside the storehouse.”

“That is a very simple matter. I will see to it that they are transported for you,” said the holy man. He had someone load one of the bales of rice on his bowl, which he caused to fly into the sky. Thereupon all the other bales followed along after it, just like a flock of geese.

When the rich man saw the bales flying off, he was more than ever astonished and struck with awe, and he said to the holy man, “Wait! Don’t send them all back! Please keep two or three hundred measures of rice for your own use.”

“That may not be,” said the holy man. “What would I do with them if they were left here?”

“Then let me give you as many as you can use—say, ten or twenty measures,” suggested the rich man.

The holy man still would not accept. “If I had any need for so much rice, I would take your ten or twenty measures, but I have not.” He made certain that every last bale landed at the rich man’s house.

While the holy man went on living thus, performing miracles of every description, the Emperor Daigo fell seriously ill. All manner of prayers, exorcisms, and recitations of the scriptures were performed on his behalf, but he showed no signs of recovery. Someone said, “There lives at Shigi a holy man who has been practicing austerities for many years, and has never once come down from his solitary retreat. He possesses supernatural powers and performs all