FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76  
77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   >>  
gs--possibly goblins... Anyhow, there is a big ant's nest under that cedar-tree."... "Let us look!" cried Akinosuke, greatly moved by this suggestion. And he went for a spade. The ground about and beneath the cedar-tree proved to have been excavated, in a most surprising way, by a prodigious colony of ants. The ants had furthermore built inside their excavations; and their tiny constructions of straw, clay, and stems bore an odd resemblance to miniature towns. In the middle of a structure considerably larger than the rest there was a marvelous swarming of small ants around the body of one very big ant, which had yellowish wings and a long black head. "Why, there is the King of my dream!" cried Akinosuke; "and there is the palace of Tokoyo!... How extraordinary!... Raishu ought to lie somewhere southwest of it--to the left of that big root... Yes!--here it is!... How very strange! Now I am sure that I can find the mountain of Hanryoko, and the grave of the princess."... In the wreck of the nest he searched and searched, and at last discovered a tiny mound, on the top of which was fixed a water-worn pebble, in shape resembling a Buddhist monument. Underneath it he found--embedded in clay--the dead body of a female ant. RIKI-BAKA His name was Riki, signifying Strength; but the people called him Riki-the-Simple, or Riki-the-Fool,--"Riki-Baka,"--because he had been born into perpetual childhood. For the same reason they were kind to him,--even when he set a house on fire by putting a lighted match to a mosquito-curtain, and clapped his hands for joy to see the blaze. At sixteen years he was a tall, strong lad; but in mind he remained always at the happy age of two, and therefore continued to play with very small children. The bigger children of the neighborhood, from four to seven years old, did not care to play with him, because he could not learn their songs and games. His favorite toy was a broomstick, which he used as a hobby-horse; and for hours at a time he would ride on that broomstick, up and down the slope in front of my house, with amazing peals of laughter. But at last he became troublesome by reason of his noise; and I had to tell him that he must find another playground. He bowed submissively, and then went off,--sorrowfully trailing his broomstick behind him. Gentle at all times, and perfectly harmless if allowed no chance to play with fire, he seldom gave anybody cause for complaint. His
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76  
77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   >>  



Top keywords:

broomstick

 

children

 

reason

 
searched
 
Akinosuke
 

submissively

 
clapped
 

sixteen

 

seldom

 

remained


strong
 

curtain

 

mosquito

 

sorrowfully

 

complaint

 
perpetual
 

childhood

 

trailing

 

putting

 
lighted

Gentle

 
favorite
 

allowed

 

laughter

 

troublesome

 

amazing

 

harmless

 
bigger
 

neighborhood

 

playground


perfectly

 

continued

 

chance

 

pebble

 

resemblance

 

miniature

 

inside

 

excavations

 

constructions

 

middle


swarming

 

yellowish

 

marvelous

 

structure

 

considerably

 

larger

 
colony
 

prodigious

 

greatly

 

possibly