The eldest of the boys replied, “We’re going to take him home and sell him to a young man in our village.  He’ll buy him, and then he’ll boil him in a pot and eat him.”

“Well,” replied the other, after considering the matter attentively, “I suppose it’s all the same to you whom you sell him to.  You’d better let me have him.”

“Oh, but the young man from our village promised us a good round sum if we could find a fox, and got us to come out to the hills and catch one; and so we can’t sell him to you at any price.”

“Well, I suppose it cannot be helped, then; but how much would the young man give you for the cub?”

“Oh, he’ll give us three hundred cash at least.”

“Then I’ll give you half a bu;[78] and so you’ll gain five hundred cash by the transaction.”

[Footnote 78:  Bu.  This coin is generally called by foreigners “ichibu,” which means “one bu.”  To talk of “a hundred ichibus” is as though a Japanese were to say “a hundred one shillings." Four bus make a riyo>, or ounce; and any sum above three bus is spoken of as so many riyos and bus—­as 101 riyos and three bus equal 407 bus.  The bu is worth about 1s. 4d.]

“Oh, we’ll sell him for that, sir.  How shall we hand him over to you?”

“Just tie him up here,” said the other; and so he made fast the cub round the neck with the string of the napkin in which the luncheon-box was wrapped, and gave half a bu to the three boys, who ran away delighted.

The man’s friend, upon this, said to him, “Well, certainly you have got queer tastes.  What on earth are you going to keep the fox for?”

“How very unkind of you to speak of my tastes like that.  If we had not interfered just now, the fox’s cub would have lost its life.  If we had not seen the affair, there would have been no help for it.  How could I stand by and see life taken?  It was but a little I spent—­only half a bu—­to save the cub, but had it cost a fortune I should not have grudged it.  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 backwards 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.”