"Why, there is the King of my dream!" cried Akinosuke; "and there is the
palace of Tokoyo!... How extraordinary!... Raishu ought to lie somewhere
southwest of it -- to the left of that big root... Yes! -- here it is!...
How very strange! Now I am sure that I can find the mountain of Hanryoko,
and the grave of the princess."...


In the wreck of the nest he searched and searched, and at last discovered
a tiny mound, on the top of which was fixed a water-worn pebble, in shape
resembling a Buddhist monument. Underneath it he found -- embedded in clay
-- the dead body of a female ant.




RIKI-BAKA


His name was Riki, signifying Strength; but the people called him
Riki-the-Simple, or Riki-the-Fool,-- "Riki-Baka,"-- because he had been
born into perpetual childhood. For the same reason they were kind to him,--
even when he set a house on fire by putting a lighted match to a
mosquito-curtain, and clapped his hands for joy to see the blaze. At
sixteen years he was a tall, strong lad; but in mind he remained always at
the happy age of two, and therefore continued to play with very small
children. The bigger children of the neighborhood, from four to seven years
old, did not care to play with him, because he could not learn their songs
and games. His favorite toy was a broomstick, which he used as a
hobby-horse; and for hours at a time he would ride on that broomstick, up