Prevod

Long ago, an emperor who took great delight in poems with concealed themes asked for verses hiding the word hichiriki, the name of a flute. The poems people composed were poor. One dawn, as a woodcutter boy was setting off for the mountains, he said, “They say His Majesty has lately been asking for poems concealing the word hichiriki, but no one has managed to compose one. Well, I have.” The boys going with him said, “What presumption! Don’t say such things. It’s not fitting for the likes of you—it’s disgraceful!” “Why must everything a person does accord with his appearance?” he replied, and recited, “With every spring that comes around, how many times have the cherry blossoms fallen? I long to ask someone.” It was quite unexpected from someone of his appearance.