Kako je zet prestrašil tasta

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Kako je zet prestrašil tasta

There was once a samurai who lived with his wife. His daughter, too, served as a lady-in-waiting. This man, Kotōta, managed his lord’s affairs and occupied a spacious lodging of three or four suites of rooms. A young gentleman used to visit his daughter, the lady-in-waiting. One evening he slipped secretly into her room. Rain began falling before dawn, and, unable to go home, he remained lying there in hiding. The lady went upstairs to attend her mistress. Her lover lay behind a screen set up around his bed. The spring rain fell on and on, leaving him no way to get home. Kotōta, his father-in-law, thought the young gentleman must be finding the time hang heavy. He arranged some food on a wooden tray and carried it in one hand, with a vessel of sake in the other. Thinking someone might see him if he entered from the veranda, he made his way discreetly through the back rooms. The young gentleman was lying on his back with a robe pulled over his head, idly wishing the lady would hurry downstairs. When the sliding door opened at the back of the room, he had no doubt that she had come down. Keeping his face covered with the robe, he pulled out his member, arched his belly, and made it rear up stiffly. Kotōta took such a fright that he reeled backward, scattering the food and spilling every drop of the sake. With his great beard pointing skyward, he toppled onto his back, struck his head hard, and lay there unconscious—or so the story goes.