Saint of Mt. Koya
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21

"The woman looked dejected for a time, then said, 'I expect you must be quite tired, wouldn't you like to go straight to bed?'

" 'I appreciate all the trouble you have gone to, but I don't feel the least bit sleepy. After bathing I seem to have revived from my earlier exhaustion.'

" 'That river is known for its healing waters; it can remedy any ailment. When I am overworked and have become worn away to nothing but skin and bone, I find that if I soak in the river for half a day, I come back feeling completely restored. Even in winter when the whole mountain is covered with ice and snow, that place where you bathed is the only spot that is not frozen over. The steam rises from there all year around. Monkeys that have been wounded or injured by hunters, and herons who have broken a leg, and all sorts of other animals come here to take the water. By following their tracks you can always find your way down the cliff. In any case, the bath seems to have done you a world of good. If you really aren't too tired, please stay here and chat with me so I won't be lonely. I am really quite embarrassed; being shut away deep in the mountains like this I am afraid I have almost forgotten how to carry on a conversation.

" 'But if you feel sleepy, please say so. I am afraid we do not have a special guest room for you in so poor a place as this, but on the other hand, we don't have any mosquitoes either. They say that once when one of the people from up here in the mountains went down to the village to spend the night, they put up a mosquito net for him to sleep under, but he did not know how to get into it and ended up asking for a ladder so he could climb up and sleep on top of it. No matter how late you sleep in the morning, there is no temple bell to awaken you, and no roosters to crow at dawn, and no dogs either, so you can be sure you will be able to sleep as late as you like without being disturbed.'


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Intangible