Prevod

Long ago, a man who was sent to China as an envoy had a child of about ten whom he loved so dearly that he could not bear to leave him behind, and so he took the boy with him across the sea. Some time after their arrival, there came a day when the snow lay deep. The father stayed indoors, but the boy went out to play. When he was late coming home, his father grew uneasy and went out to look for him. Following the boy’s footprints, he found that the tracks of a large dog had come up behind them and run alongside them. Beyond that point, the boy’s footprints vanished, while the other tracks led toward the mountains. “A tiger must have carried him off to eat him,” he thought. Helpless with grief, he drew his sword and followed the tracks into the mountains. At the mouth of a cave he found the tiger lying down and licking its belly, having killed and eaten the boy. He rushed at it with his sword. Unable to get away, the beast crouched before him, and when he struck its head, it split like the head of a carp. Then it lunged at him from the side to bite him, but he struck its back, severing its spine and leaving it a crumpled heap. Though his child was dead, he tucked the body under his arm and returned home. The people of that country who saw him were astonished beyond measure. For the Chinese found it hard enough even to escape when they encountered a tiger, yet he had killed one and brought his child back. They spoke of his deed with awe and praised Japan as a land unequalled in the martial arts. But his child was dead, and what good was any of it?