The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1880-05-07
The Dream Story of Gojiro.

IHt DFcdm StOTy VI UVJHOs
Only few years ago there was a
gentleman in Fukui, japan, who had
q son, bright lad of twelve, who
was very diligent at school, and had
made astonishing progress in his
studies He was especially quick at
learning Chinese characters, of
which every japanese gentleman
who wishes to be called educated
must know at least 1000. For, al
though the Chinese and Japanese
are two very different languages, yet
the Japanese, Coreans and Chinese
use the same letters to write with,
just as English, Germans, French
and Spaniards all employ one and
the same alphabet.
Now Gojiro's father had promised
him that when he read through five
volumes of the Nihongi, or ancient
history of Japan, he would give him
for present a book of wonderful
Chinese stories. Gojiro performed
his task and his father kept his prom
ise. One day, on his return from a
journey to Kioto, he presented his
son with sixteen volumes, all neatly
silk bound, well illustrated with
wood cuts and printed clearly on
thin, silky mulberry paper from the
best wooden blocks. 1t will be re-
membered that several volumes of
Japanese literature make but one of
ours, rs they are much lighter and
thinner than ours.
Gojiro was so delighted with the
wonderful stories Of heroes and war
riors, travels and sailors, that he al
most fel. himself in China. He read
far into the night, with his lamp in
side of his mosquito curtain, and
finally fell asleep, still undressed,
but with his head full Of all sorts of
Chinese wonders.
He dreamed he was far away In
China, walking along the banks of
the great Yellow River. Everything
was very strange. The people talked
an entirely different language from
his own; had on different clothes;
and instead of nice shaven head and
top-knot of the Japanese, every one
wore long pigtail of hair that
dangled at his heels. Even the
boats were of strange form; and
on the fishing smacks, perched on
projecting rails, sat rows of cormo-
rants, each with a ring around his
neck. Every few minutes one of
them would dive under the water,
and, after awhile, come struggling
up with a fish in its mouth SO big
that the fishermen had to help the
bird into the boat. The fish was
then flung into a basket, and the
cormorant was treated to slice of
raw fish by way of encouragement,
and to keep the bird from the bad
habit of eating the live fish whole.
This the ravenous bird would some
times try to do, even though the
ring was put around his neck for the
express purpose of preventing him
from gulping down a whole fish at
once.
1t was spring time, and the buds
were just bursting into flower. The
river was full of fish, especially carp,
to the great rapids or cas-
cades. Here the current ran at a
prodigious rate of swiftness, and the
waters rippled and boiled and roared
with frightful noise. Yet, strange to
say, many of the fish were swim
ming up the stream as if their lives
depended on it. They leaped and
foundered about; but every one
seemed to be tossed back and left ex-
hausted in the river, where they |
painted and gasped for breath in the
eddies at the side. Some were SO
bruised against the rocks that, after
a few spasms, they foated white and
stiff, belly up, on the water, dead,
and were swept down the stream.
Still the shoal leaped and strained |
every fin, until their scales flashed in
the sun like host of armored war
riors in battle. Gojiro, enjoying it as
If it were real conflict of waves and
fishes, clapped his hands with delight.
Then Gojiro enquired by means of
of an old white-b bearded sage
by and looking on, "What
is the name of this part of the river?o
"We CALI Lung Men, replied the
sage.
"Will you please write the charac-
Jers oft, said Gojiro, producing his
and and a brush pen, with a
roH of soft mulberry paper.
The sage wrote the two Chinese
characters meaning "The Gate of the
Dragons, or Dragons Gate,"
md turned away to watch carp
hat seemed almost up into the clear
water.
"Oh, see, said Gojiro to himself
That's pronounced Riu Mon in Jap
snese. III go further on and see. !