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

4 страница из 24

“My name is Bunkichi.”^[2]

ssss1.Pronounced Boon-kee’chee.

“Are your parents living?”

At this question the boy hung his head sorrowfully. “I have neither father nor mother,” he answered, with a choking voice and eyes filled with tears.

Filled with pity, the others asked him how long he had been left alone in the world.

“I lost my mother,” he said, “more than three years ago, and my father only quite recently.”

“And what was your family? Were you farmers or tradesmen?”

“Neither one nor the other. My father formerly served under the Lord of Wakayama, and received an allowance of eight hundred koku^[3] of rice. His name was Igarashi Bunzayemon;^[4] but, losing his position, he came to Kada-no-Ura, where we had to live in a very poor way. My father, however, would never allow me to forget that the ancestor of our house was Igarashi Kobunji,^[5] who served in old days at Kamakura, and gained a name for himself as a brave warrior. ‘And when you become a man,’ my father used to say, ‘you must win your way to fame, and so uphold the honor of the family; but, unlike the past, our lot to-day is cast in peaceful times when there is little chance of winning distinction in arms; but become, if you can, the leading merchant in Japan, and you will bring honor to our house.’ Such was my father’s counsel to me, and not long since he was taken with a severe illness and died. And now, if you please, I wish to learn the ways of business, that I may become a merchant, and I have journeyed to Kumano to throw myself on your kindness.”