the animals separated, they to their lairs in the woods and he to
his mother, who was waiting for him.

As soon as he entered the cottage, which stood like a matchbox in
the heart of the pine-woods, he went to greet his mother, saying:

"Okkasan (mother), here I am!"

"O, Kimbo!" said his mother with a bright smile, glad to see her boy
home safe after the long day. "How late you are to-day. I feared
that something had happened to you. Where have you been all the
time?"

"I took my four friends, the bear, the deer, the monkey, and the
hare, up into the hills, and there I made them try a wrestling
match, to see which was the strongest. We all enjoyed the sport, and
are going to the same place to-morrow to have another match."

"Now tell me who is the strongest of all?" asked his mother,
pretending not to know.

"Oh, mother," said Kintaro, "don't you know that I am the strongest?
There was no need for me to wrestle with any of them."

"But next to you then, who is the strongest?"

"The bear comes next to me in strength," answered Kintaro.

"And after the bear?" asked his mother again.