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1905.]

Marquis Ito, the greatest statesman of Japan, was the caretaker of that school, and Kido Koin, the greatest mechanical genius of Japan, was the elder of the boys.

Five years from that time Yoshida Shoin was taken outside the gates of Vedo and beheaded, and where he fell there is a shrine, visited by many people.



Japanese believe that one of the ancestors of their race is a god. Here is a legend telling the story of his children.

When this god was sent to Japan by his mother, he married a beautiful woman. Two children were born to them.

Both of these children were boys: the eldest was Prince Light-the-Fire, and the youngest, Prince Put-the-Fire-Out.

Light-the-Fire was a great fisherman and Put-the-Fire-Out was a great hunter.

One day, however, they thought they would like a change. So Light-the-Fire took his brother’s gun, and Put-the-Fire-Out took the rod. He went to the river, baited his hook, and threw the line in. In a little time he got a bite, but the fish was strong and got away with the hook in his mouth. So Put-the-Fire-Out went home and told his brother he would give him five hooks for the one he had lost. When his brother found out that he had lost the hook he was very angry, and said he would not take a thousand fish-hooks for that one; and then he said never to let him see him again until he brought the hook back.

This made Put-the-Fre-Out very sad, so he wandered to the sea-shore and plunged in, thinking to go to Father Neptune and get the hook back. However, when he got to Neptune’s palace, he had such a good time he forgot all about the hook for two or three years; then he remembered it, and asked Neptune to help him.

So Neptune called all the fishes together, and found the hook in the mouth of one. The prince put it in his pocket and started for home. Before he went he received two crystal balls from Neptune’s wife. One, if dropped in the water, would make the water rise until he dropped in the other ball, which would make it recede.

When he got home he took his brother to the river, and there gave him the fish-hook. Instead of being pleased, his brother was going to kill him, when Put-the-Fire-Out dropped one ball in the water, and the water rose and rose until it was up to Light-the-Fire’s neck; then he was frightened, and begged so, the prince dropped the other ball, and both lived happy ever after.