Saint of Mt. Koya
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"Rather than fling myself into the waterfall, I made up my mind to return to that lonely house in the mountains. I had hesitated to take this step because I knew in my heart that my motives were impure. Still, I made up my mind to go back, thinking that if I could only see her face and hear her voice, if I could just lay out my bedding beside the bed she shared with her husband, that would be far better than to spend the rest of my life sweating over the religious austerities of being a priest. Rising from the boulder on which I had been sitting, I turned back and was about to retrace my steps when someone thumped me on the back and said, 'Well, if it isn't the priest.'

"I was startled from my reverie, as much because of my guilty conscience as anything else, but as it turned out, it was not the devil's messenger who had found me, but the old man I had met the night before.

"Evidently he had sold the horse, for he seemed in good spirits and was carrying a small bundle on his back. From one hand dangled a large carp with golden scales. The fish seemed quite fresh and was still moving its tail as it hung with a straw rope though its gills. It was about three feet long.


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Intangible