Maido made no answer to the boy's inquiry but turned toward the fragrant vine, and stood admiring the bright foliage, possibly dreaming of the future of his son and heir, until Okyo once more began chattering. "Heigh! great master, please why is the vine so large and beautiful?" "Heigh! Okyo, it is because our ancestral gods have so created it." "But why do not the gods create vines so large and so beautiful for all men?" "Because, my child, all men are not given to such beauty." "Are all daimyos inclined toward only that which is beautiful?" "Yes. They are descended from the gods of goodness and love, and as the spirits of these gods dwell in the realms of heavenly beauty so do the minds of daimyos dwell upon things of earthly beauty." "If daimyos think and do only things which are beautiful, why do they cut men's heads off?" "That is done in obedience to the commands of our superiors; and, I assure you, there is nothing more beautiful than an act of obedience to our masters." "Will Shibusawa be a daimyo when he grows up?" "Yes; if his head be spared so long and his father's not." "Will I, too, be a daimyo when I am a man?" "No, child. How came you to think of such a thing?" "Because mother says I look like Shibusawa, and I don't see why I shouldn't be just like him." "You shall be Shibusawa's friend and confidant." "Why shall I be his friend and confidant?" "Because you will comfort and console him during moments of contemplation and despair, just as you have myself since you were first able to tread about my gardens on wooden stilts." "Why will I comfort and console him?" "Because you are the son of--only a mother, who is of Kishemogin and possessed of less wit and more cunning than a fox. Now then, hie you away to your mother's mat and feast well upon rice and fish so that you may grow strong in endurance, for you shall have many and severe trials in following this youth ere he has much passed your age." "Oh," said Maido, to himself, "see him run away in obedience to my command! There is not yet a twig so crooked or a thing so small but it can be made of use. As the mould is shaped so will be the cast. He is of the right material. I shall see that he grows up after my liking, bend him to the task properly, and thus provide the instrument through which Shibusawa may acquit himself of the thankless duties imposed by Bishamon, god of provocation." CHAPTER II EARLY LIFE From the recording of Shibusawa's birth in the Keidzu, the daimyo's great book, until he had passed sixteen (the average age of discretion in Japan), there was but little in his life that is of interest so far as this story is concerned. Maido was always solicitous about the child's care, and took every precaution to have him taught only such ideas as were in accord with his ancestors' and the preconceived notions of the shogun's government.