Prevod

Long ago, there was a man called Prince Toyosaki, the fifth son of the Emperor of Kashiwabara. He held the fourth rank and served as Minister of Justice and Governor of Yamato. He was well versed in worldly affairs, upright in disposition, and a sound judge of both good and bad in the conduct of government. Whenever provincial appointments were to be made, he would consider the many vacant governorships and those seeking them, weighing each man against the province, and say, “This man is sure to be made governor of that province,” or, “That man, however justly he presses his claim, will never obtain it.” So he would pronounce upon each province. When people heard his predictions and found, on the morning the appointments were announced, that not one differed in the slightest from what he had said, they declared, “How shrewdly the prince foresees the appointments!” Before the next appointments, people would flock to his house. Those whom he told, “You are certain to succeed,” rubbed their hands with delight, while those who heard him say, “You will never obtain it,” went home muttering, “What nonsense this old prince talks! He must be raving under the spell of the god of the crossroads.” If someone he had predicted would receive a post failed to obtain it, and another was unexpectedly appointed instead, people would criticize the choice, saying that the appointment had been badly made. Thus even the emperor would tell those who attended him closely, “Go and ask what Prince Toyosaki has said about the appointments.” This was, perhaps, in the reigns of the emperors Tamura and Mizunoo.