Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 3.djvu/81

 are open! The cripple's jumping around! The mute's singing! Oh, you rascals! Oh, you robbers! Hi! Hi!

. Ugh! He's back. What shall we do! (The shuts his eyes tightly and cries for pardon; the  springs up and throws himself on his knees, mumbling, "Wa-a-a!" the  begins to crawl around.)

(to ). You were a cripple and now you're a mute. Robber! Villain! I sha'n't let you off.

. Oh, forgive me. Sir! There! I'm a cripple again!

(to ). You were a mute and now you're a chattering blindman?

. Wa-a-a!

. At it again, are you? Thief! I'll give it to you (beating him).

. Oh! Ah! Let us off, let us off!

. I sha'n't! I sha'n't!

The old pastime of competitive verse-making continued to be practised in this era, but owing in part to the comparative illiteracy of the military men, who now formed a prominent element of society, and in part to the general decay of classical learning, the quality of a composition ceased to be of prime importance, and people preferred to amuse themselves capping verses. One person gave an opening line, a competition then followed as to who should first discover a suitable sequel. The "linked poems" (renka) thus produced had little literary merit, and were sometimes carried to extravagant length, as many