Never grumbling at her
harsh treatment of him, he lay down naked on the frozen surface of the
lake. The warmth of his body melted a hole in the ice, at which two carp
came up to breathe. These he caught and set before his stepmother. Another
paragon, though of tender years and having a delicate skin, insisted on
sleeping uncovered at night, in order that the mosquitoes should fasten on
him alone, and allow his parents to slumber undisturbed.
"A third, who was very poor, determined to bury his own child alive in
order to have more food wherewith to support his aged mother, but was
rewarded by Heaven with the discovery of a vessel filled with gold, off
which the whole family lived happily ever after. But the drollest of all
is the story of Roraishi. This paragon, though seventy years old, used to
dress in baby's clothes and sprawl about upon the floor. His object was to
delude his parents, who were really over ninety years of age, into the idea
that they could not be so very old, after all, seeing that they still had
such a childlike son."
His duty to his Emperor the Japanese takes very seriously, for it includes
his duty to his country. He considers that his life belongs to his country,
and he is not only willing, but proud, to give it in her defence. This was
seen to the full in the late war with Russia. Time and again a Japanese
regiment was ordered to go to certain death. Not a man questioned the
order, not a man dreamed for an instant of disobedience.
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