Ito had entered the lists,
and a fresh battle began.
It was even longer and stubborner than the first, for Ito's kite, being
much smaller, had much less power in the air; but Ito made up for this by
showing the greatest skill in the handling of his kite, and quite a crowd
gathered to see the struggle, watching every movement in perfect silence
and with the deepest gravity. Suddenly Ito pounced. He caught a favourable
gust of wind, and swung his line across Kanaya's with the greatest
dexterity. Saw-saw went the line, and at the next moment the great kite
went tumbling down the wind, and Kanaya and Ito exchanged the regulation
bows. Then the latter looked at his brother without a word, and Taro ran
to seize his beloved kite again.
"It is yours now, Ito," said the elder brother, when he came back.
"Oh no," said Ito; "we will each keep our own. I am glad I got it back from
Kanaya."
CHAPTER XIV
FAIRY STORIES
When Taro and Ito went home that night with their kites, they were glad to
sit down and rest, for they had been running about until they were quite
tired. When they had eaten their suppers of rice from their little brown
bowls of lacquer, they begged their grandmother to tell them a story, and
she told them the famous old story of Momotaro, beloved of every child in
Japan. And this is what she told them: Once upon a time an old man and an
old woman lived near a river at the foot of a mountain. Every day the old
man went to the mountain to cut wood and carry it home, while the old woman
went to the river to wash clothes.
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