Читать книгу Kibun Daizin; Or, From Shark-Boy to Merchant Prince онлайн

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Bunkichi without any hesitation replied: “I will undertake the task of taking the doll out for the shark to swallow. As I grew up by the seaside at Kada-no-Ura, I can row a boat well and can swim better than most people. I saw a boat just now fastened at the jetty in your garden. Please lend it to me and I will go out alone upon the bay.”

Astonished by the audaciousness of the lad, the master said: “It is too wild an idea, my boy. What if the shark upsets your boat? He will swallow you up in an instant.”

“As to what you say about drowning, that doesn’t disturb me at all. Suppose I have no luck and lose my life, there is nothing to be regretted if by my death I succeed in removing the great calamity under which many are now suffering. And, as I said before, it is my determination to become the leading merchant of Japan; but if I am to realize my ambition I must be prepared to run many risks. If fortune favors me I shall come safe through them and attain my object; if, however, this first venture goes against me, and I go out to sea and fall a prey to the wanizame, it simply means that I must accept it as the decree of fate, and, as far as my life is concerned, I am quite ready to risk it.”