Page:Nihongi by Aston volume 2.djvu/194

Rh 3rd day. It was reported from the district of Shiki no Kami:—"There was a man on Mount Miwa who, seeing a monkey having its noonday sleep, stealthily took it by the elbow, but without doing it bodily harm. The monkey kept its eyes closed, and sang a song, saying:—

The man was amazed at the monkey's song. He set it free and came away. This was a portent, indicating, after many years had passed, the siege of the Kamutsumiya Princes on Mount Ikoma by Soga no Kura-tsukuri."

6th day. Among the lotuses in the Tsurugi pond, there was one which had two flowers on one stem. Toyora no Oho-omi inferred without sufficient reason that this portended the future prosperity of Soga no Omi. So he made a picture with golden ink, and presented it to the sixteen feet high Buddha of Great Hōkōji.

In this month the witches and wizards of the whole country, breaking off leafy branches and hanging them with tree fibre, watched the time when the Oho-omi was crossing a bridge and vied with one another in addressing to him subtle interpretations of divine words. They were in great numbers, so that they could not be distinctly heard. Old people said