I thought you were intimate enough with me to know my heart; but
to-day you have accused me of being eccentric, and I see how mistaken I
have been in you. However, our friendship shall cease from this day
forth."
And when he had said this with a great deal of firmness, the other,
retiring backward and bowing with his hands on his knees, replied:
"Indeed, indeed, I am filled with admiration at the goodness of your
heart. When I hear you speak thus, I feel more than ever how great is
the love I bear you. I thought that you might wish to use the cub as a
sort of decoy to lead the old ones to you, that you might pray them to
bring prosperity and virtue to your house. When I called you eccentric
just now, I was but trying your heart, because I had some suspicions of
you; and now I am truly ashamed of myself."
And as he spoke, still bowing, the other replied: "Really! was that
indeed your thought? Then I pray you to forgive me for my violent
language."
When the two friends had thus become reconciled, they examined the cub,
and saw that it had a slight wound in its foot, and could not walk; and
while they were thinking what they should do, they spied out the herb
called "Doctor's Nakase," which was just sprouting; so they rolled up a
little of it in their fingers and applied it to the part. Then they
pulled out some boiled rice from their luncheon-box and offered it to
the cub, but it showed no sign of wanting to eat; so they stroked it
gently on the back and petted it; and as the pain of the wound seemed to
have subsided, they were admiring the properties of the herb, when,
opposite to them, they saw the old foxes sitting watching them by the
side of some stacks of rice straw.
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