Prevod

One snowy day, as this samurai was performing a purification, the governor saw him shivering as though possessed by a spirit and said, “Compose a poem. How charmingly the snow falls!” “What subject shall I take?” the samurai asked. “Write about being naked,” the governor replied. Without a moment’s delay, the samurai raised his trembling voice and recited: “The white snow falling on my naked body will not melt, though I shake and shake.” The governor praised him warmly, took off the robe he was wearing, and gave it to him. His wife, too, was moved to pity and gave him a pale-purple robe, wonderfully fragrant with incense. The samurai took both robes, folded them together, tucked them under his arm, and left. When he reached the retainers’ room, the samurai seated there stared at him in astonishment and asked what had happened. On hearing his story, they were amazed. After that, however, the samurai was no longer seen. Wondering what had become of him, the governor sent men to inquire. It turned out that there was a holy man of great virtue in the Northern Hills, and the samurai had gone to him and offered him both robes. “I have grown old,” he said, “and my misfortunes have only increased with the years. It seems there is nothing left for me in this life. I have been thinking that I might at least find some hope for the life to come, and have wished to become a monk. But I had nothing to offer the master who would ordain me, and so I have lingered on until now. Then these things came to me quite unexpectedly, to my boundless joy, and I bring them to you as an offering. Please make me a monk.” He spoke through his tears, choking with sobs. Deeply moved by his devotion, the holy man ordained him. Afterward he left that place without saying where he was going, and vanished. No one ever learned his whereabouts, so the story goes.