is Sadamitsu, and I am a vassal of the powerful Lord Minamoto-no-
Raiko. He ordered me to go round the country and look for boys who
give promise of remarkable strength, so that they may be trained as
soldiers for his army. I thought that I could best do this by
assuming the disguise of a woodcutter. By good fortune, I have thus
unexpectedly come across your son. Now if you really wish him to be
a SAMURAI (a knight), I will take him and present him to the Lord
Raiko as a candidate for his service. What do you say to this?"

As the kind general gradually unfolded his plan the mother's heart
was filled with a great joy. She saw that here was a wonderful
chance of the one wish of her life being fulfilled--that of seeing
Kintaro a SAMURAI before she died.

Bowing her head to the ground, she replied:

"I will then intrust my son to you if you really mean what you say."

Kintaro had all this time been sitting by his mother's side
listening to what they said. When his mother finished speaking, he
exclaimed:

"Oh, joy! joy! I am to go with the general and one day I shall be a
SAMURAI!"

Thus Kintaro's fate was settled, and the general decided to start
for the Capital at once, taking Kintaro with him. It need hardly be
said that Yama-uba was sad at parting with her boy, for he was all
that was left to her. But she hid her grief with a strong face, as
they say in Japan. She knew that it was for her boy's good that he