Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1892-03-18
TO be continued.
TIE HARE OF INABA
Japanese Story of the Hare, and the Sue.
cessfuI Prince

cessful frlRCe.
Now, there were once eigbty-one
brothers who were princes in the land
They were all jealous of one another. eack
one wishing 10 be king to rule over the
whole kingdom. Besides this, each one
wanted to marry the same princess. She
was the princess Of Yakima in Inaba
At last they made up their minds that
they would go together to lnaba and each
one try to persuade the princess to marry
HIM. Although eighty of these brothers
were jealous Of one another, yet thew all
agreed in hating and being unkind to the
eighty-6rst, who was good and gentle and
did not like their rough, qaarrelsome
ways. When they set out upon their
journey they made the poor eighty first
brother walk behind them and carry Il g
bag, just as if he bad been their servant,
although he was their own brother and as
much prince as any of them all
By and by the eighty princes came to
Cape heta, and there they found a poor
hare, with all his fur pIucked out, lying
down very sick and miserable. The
eighty princes said to the hare: 1--WE
vii! tell You what you should do. Go and
battle in the sea water and then lie down
on the slope Of high mountain and let
the wind blow upon you. That will soon
make your fur grow, we promise you
So the poor hare believed them and
went and batbed in The sea, and after
ward lay down in the sun and wind to
cry. But as the salt wates dried, the
skin of his body all cracked and split with
the sun and the wind, so that he was in
| terrible pain, and lay there crying in a
much worse state than he was before.
Now the eighty first brother was long
way behind the others, because he had the
luggage to carry, but at last he came up.
staggering under the weight of the heavy
bag. When he saw the hare he asked ::
why are you lying there crying?" "Oh
dear said the hare, Just stop moment
| and | will tell you all my story. was in
the island Of Oki, and | wanted to cross
over to this land i didn't know how to
get over, but at last hit upon plan.
said 10 the sea crocodiles: Let US count
now many crocodiLes there are in the sea
how many hares there are on the land
And now to begin with the crocodi!es.
Come, every one of you, and lay down in a
low across from this island to Cape Keta :;
then ! will step upon each one and count
you a. | run across. When | have finished
counting you We can count the hares and
then we shall know whether there are most
hares or most crocodlles'
The crocodiler came and lay down in a
Tow. Then | stepped on them and count
ed them rs ran across, and was Just 60
ing TO JUMP on shore when | laughed and
said: You silly crocoGiles, | don't care
how many OF you there are. only want
ed bridge to get across by On, why
did ! boast until was safe on dry land ?
For the last crocodile, the one which lay
at the very end of the row, seized me alsd
ptucked eff all my fur.
And serves you right too, for being so
tricky" said the eighty first brother;
however, go on with your story"
As Was lying here crying" continued
the hare, The eighty princes who went by
before you told me to battle in salt water
and lie down IN the wind. | did as they
told me, but | AM ten times worse than
before and my whole body is smarting and
sore.
Then the eighty first brother said to the
hare: Go quickly now to the river; it Is
quite near. Wash yourself we'll with the
fresh water, then take the pollen of sedges
growing on the river bank spread it about
on the ground and roll among it; if you
do this your skin will heal and your fur
grow again.
So the hare did as he was told and this
time he was quite cared, and his fur grew
thicker than ever.
Then the hare said to the eighty frat
brother: ''As for those eighty princes,
your brothers, they shall not get the prin-
cess of Inaba. Although you carry the
bag, yet your .bighness shall at last get
both the princess and the country. y
Which things came to pass, for the prin-
| cess would have nothing to do with those
eighty bad brothers, but chose the eighty
first, who was kind and good. Then he
was made king Of the country and lived
happily all his life -Transated by Mrs.
7. H. James.