"Then, out of the ground before him, rose up the figure of a white-robed
woman, with long loose-flowing hair, holding a covered jar. And the woman
said: "I have come to answer your fervent prayer as it deserves to be
answered. Take, therefore, this jar." So saying, she put the jar into his
hands, and disappeared.


Into his house the happy man rushed, to tell his wife the good news. He
set down in front of her the covered jar,-- which was heavy,-- and they
opened it together. And they found that it was filled, up to the very brim,
with...


But no! -- I really cannot tell you with what it was filled.


JIKININKI



Once, when Muso Kokushi, a priest of the Zen sect, was journeying alone
through the province of Mino (1), he lost his way in a mountain-district
where there was nobody to direct him. For a long time he wandered about
helplessly; and he was beginning to despair of finding shelter for the
night, when he perceived, on the top of a hill lighted by the last rays of
the sun, one of those little hermitages, called anjitsu, which are built
for solitary priests. It seemed to be in ruinous condition; but he hastened
to it eagerly, and found that it was inhabited by an aged priest, from whom
he begged the favor of a night's lodging. This the old man harshly refused;