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