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THE DREAM-WOULD. 45
flowers covering a field over an acre in size, and at
the entrance is the carved image of a fox. In this
hamlet two men lived ; one was a wicked mail-carrier.
He was accidentally killed in a trap, and his dead
body turned into a fox. The good man was a farmer
who went up the mountain of Hakuzan thirty-three
times on a pious pilgrimage to honor the god of
the mountain. One night at the mountain-top he
dreamed that the god of the mountain came to him,
and promising to make him very rich, put a key in
his hand as a token. Awakening and finding the
key, the farmer prayed to the god again : " I do not
wish wealth, but rather a happy life in the next world.
Prepare me for it." The mountain god answered:
" Your prayer is good. I shall give you your desire,
and as a sign I will plant lotus in your rice-field."
Returning to his home, the farmer found the lotus
flowers already in blossom in his field. So his field
was ever afterwards left uncultivated, and is now
full of the lotus plants, though no other field near
by has them. Lotus root is good to eat, and is a
common article of food sold in the markets, but no
one digs up the fat old roots in this field.
Here in a village temple is an image of Amida
Buddha, carved by a famous artist. Two wonders
are told about it. One day a certain father commanded
his son Mijo
man refused.
to become a priest, but the
The father then ordered his
young
chief retainer to kill Mijo, but out of love for the
lad and pity for his mother the retainer assisted Mijo
to escape, and then killed his own son instead.