. The mikado's empire. imself, alone and old, on adesolate shore. The story is undoubtedly very old. It is found inseveral books, and has been often made the subject of art. The fish-ermen in various parts of Japan worship the good boy of Urashima,who, even in the palaces of the sea-gods, forgot not his old parents. The four following stories are a few of many told of a famousjudge, named Oka, who, for wisdom, shrewdness, and judicial acumen,may be called the Solomon of Japan. I first heard of his wondrousdecisions when in Tokio, but there is a book of anecdotes of him, anda record of his deci
. The mikado's empire. imself, alone and old, on adesolate shore. The story is undoubtedly very old. It is found inseveral books, and has been often made the subject of art. The fish-ermen in various parts of Japan worship the good boy of Urashima,who, even in the palaces of the sea-gods, forgot not his old parents. The four following stories are a few of many told of a famousjudge, named Oka, who, for wisdom, shrewdness, and judicial acumen,may be called the Solomon of Japan. I first heard of his wondrousdecisions when in Tokio, but there is a book of anecdotes of him, anda record of his decisions, called the Oka Jinseidan. I suppose theyare true narrations. A certain man possessed a very costly pipe, made of silver inlaidwith gold, of which he was very proud. One day a thief stole some vain search. Oka heard that a man in a certain street hadsuch a pipe, but it was not certain whether it was his own or thestolen article. He found out the truth concerning the pipe in thefollowing ingenious Japanese Pipe of Bamboo and Brass, Pipe-case, and Tobacco-pouch. A Japanese pipe is usually made of a tiny bowl, or bowl-piece, fit-ted to a mouth-piece with a bamboo tube. Sometimes all the partsare in one, the material being metal or porcelain. The mild tobacco,cut into finest shreds, like gossamer, is rolled up in pellets, and lightedat a live coal in the brazier. After one or two whiffs, a fresh ball is FOLK-LORE AND FIRESIDE STORIES. 501 introduced. A native will thus sit by the hour, mechanically rollingup these tobacco pills, utterly oblivious of the details of the act. Likecertain absent-minded people, who look at their watches a dozen times,yet can not tell, when asked, what time it may be, so a Japanese, whiletalking at ease, will often be unable to remember whether he hassmoked or not. After long mechanical practice, his nimble fingerswith automatic precision roll the pellet to a size that exactly fills thebowl of the pipe. The shrewd judge found an o
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Keywords: ., bookauthorgriffisw, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookyear1894
