Page:Sketches of Tokyo Life (1895).djvu/106

78 consulted him. The result was that, being inexperienced in the usages of the Exchange, he soon lost every sen he had gained by prognostications, affording one more proof of the saying, “A fortune-teller cannot tell his own fortune.”

We will close this sketch with an old Japanese story. One day a samurai was walking on a river-bank when he was accosted by a fortune-teller. When he went up to him, the fortune-teller scanned his countenance and said to him:—“I see by your physiognomy that your life is threatened by a sword.” “Do you mean,” exclaimed the samurai, angrily, “to say that I shall be killed with a sword?” “Do not doubt me,” replied the other calmly, “for, what object should I have in deceiving a stranger?” “If the sword is my enemy,” retorted the samurai after a pause, “I see by your physiognomy that you will suffer by water.” “Nonsense,” quoth the Oracle with a smile, “I know I am in danger of fire, but water does not threaten me.” “What, say you so? We’ll see about that in a twinkle,” ejaculated the samurai, and, being a strong man, he caught up the fortune-teller and threw him down the bank into the river. And so he fulfilled his own prediction.