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108 HONDA THE SAMURAI.
as she thought of her own dead child. So she interceded
for Yoritomo's life, which was spared. The
death sentence was remanded, but the decree of
exile was passed that Yoritomo should be sent to
a lonely island off the coast of Idzu, and far from
all his friends.
" In bidding him good-by, his friends advised him
to give up all hope of the future by shaving his head
like a priest and becoming a monk. But one of his
father's retainers secretly bent over and whispered
in his ear, 'My young prince had better keep his
hair and wait for the future.'
"Yoritomo nodded his head and set off with his
guards. The farmers along
the road were full of
curiosity to see the young prisoner, and as they
saw his noble countenance, one whispered to an-
other:
"'This is like setting a tiger loose in the fields.
We shall hear from him again.'
"Yoritomo grew up to manhood, and married Masago,
a beautiful maiden of the house of Hojo. At
the age of thirty-three he escaped from his place of
banishment and raised the Gen standard once more.
Some said that 'for an exile to take up arms was
like a mouse plotting against a cat.'
" Having made hundreds of white banners, he
called on his father's and grandfather's old retain-
ers to follow him to war. His first battle was in
the Hakon