var currentStory="Japanese Legends";
var myTitle="Japanese Legends";
var sideTitle=" ";
var defText="Japanese Legends. Click any chapter on the right. Next, click \"start test\" button and begin typing. ";

var chapter0="An old man named Takahama lived in a little house behind the cemetery of the temple of Sozanji. He was extremely amiable and generally liked by his neighbors, though most of them considered him to be a little mad. His madness, it would appear, entirely rested upon the fact that he had never married or evinced desire for intimate companionship with women. One summer day he became very ill, so ill, in fact, that he sent for his sister-in-law and her son. They both came and did all they could to bring comfort during his last hours. While they watched, Takahama fell asleep; but he had no sooner done so than a large white butterfly flew into the room and rested on the old man\'s pillow. ";

var chapter1="The young man tried to drive it away with a fan; but it came back three times, as if loath to leave the sufferer. At last Takahama\'s nephew chased it out into the garden, through the gate, and into the cemetery beyond, where it lingered over a woman\'s tomb, and then mysteriously disappeared. On examining the tomb the young man found the name \"Akiko\" written upon it, together with a description narrating how Akiko died when she was eighteen. Though the tomb was covered with moss and must have been erected fifty years previously, the boy saw that it was surrounded with flowers, and that the little water tank had been recently filled. ";

var chapter2="When the young man returned to the house he found that Takahama had passed away, and he returned to his mother and told her what he had seen in the cemetery. \"Akiko?\" murmured his mother. \"When your uncle was young he was betrothed to Akiko. She died of consumption shortly before her wedding day. When Akiko left this world your uncle resolved never to marry, and to live ever near her grave. For all these years he has remained faithful to his vow, and kept in his heart all the sweet memories of his one and only love. ";

var chapter3="Every day Takahama went to the cemetery, whether the air was fragrant with summer breeze or thick with falling snow. Every day he went to her grave and prayed for her happiness, swept the tomb and set flowers there. When Takahama was dying, and he could no longer perform his loving task, Akiko came for him. That white butterfly was her sweet and loving soul.\" ";

var chapter4="In ancient days there lived in a remote part of Japan a man and his wife, and they were blessed with a little girl, who was the pet and idol of her parents. On one occasion the man was called away on business in distant Kyoto. Before he went he told his daughter that if she were good and dutiful to her mother he would bring her back a present she would prize very highly. Then the good man took his departure, mother and daughter watching him go. ";

var chapter5="At last he returned to his home, and after his wife and child had taken off his large hat and sandals he sat down upon the white mats and opened a bamboo basket, watching the eager gaze of his little child. He took out a wonderful doll and a lacquer box of cakes and put them into her outstretched hands. Once more he dived into his basket, and presented his wife with a metal mirror. Its convex surface shone brightly, while upon its back there was a design of pine trees and storks. ";

var chapter6="The good man\'s wife had never seen a mirror before, and on gazing into it she was under the impression that another woman looked out upon her as she gazed with growing wonder. Her husband explained the mystery and bade her take great care of the mirror. Not long after this happy homecoming and distribution of presents the woman became very ill. Just before she died she called to her little daughter, and said: \"Dear child, when I am dead take every care of your father. You will miss me when I have left you. But take this mirror, and when you feel most lonely look into it and you will always see me.\" Having said these words she passed away. ";

var chapter7="In due time the man married again, and his wife was not at all kind to her stepdaughter. But the little one, remembering her mother\'s words, would retire to a corner and eagerly look into the mirror, where it seemed to her that she saw her dear mother\'s face, not drawn in pain as she had seen it on her deathbed, but young and beautiful. One day this child\'s stepmother chanced to see her crouching in a corner over an object she could not quite see, murmuring to herself. ";

var chapter8="This ignorant woman, who detested the child and believed that her stepdaughter detested her in return, fancied that this little one was performing some strange magical art--perhaps making an image and sticking pins into it. Full of these notions, the stepmother went to her husband and told him that his wicked child was doing her best to kill her by witchcraft. When the master of the house had listened to this extraordinary recital he went straight to his daughter\'s room. He took her by surprise, and immediately the girl saw him and she slipped the mirror into her sleeve. ";

var chapter9="For the first time her doting father grew angry, and he feared that there was, after all, truth in what his wife had told him, and he repeated her tale forthwith. When his daughter had heard this unjust accusation she was amazed at her father\'s words, and she told him that she loved him far too well ever to attempt or wish to kill his wife, who she knew was dear to him. \"What have you hidden in your sleeve?\" said her father, only half convinced and still much puzzled. ";

var chapter10="\"The mirror you gave my mother, and which she on her deathbed gave to me. Every time I look into its shining surface I see the face of my dear mother, young and beautiful. When my heart aches--and oh! it has ached so much lately--I take out the mirror, and mother\'s face, with sweet, kind smile, brings me peace, and helps me to bear hard words and cross looks.\" Then the man understood and loved his child the more for her filial piety. Even the girl\'s stepmother, when she knew what had really taken place, was ashamed and asked forgiveness. And this child, who believed she had seen her mother\'s face in the mirror, forgave, and trouble forever departed from the home. ";

var chapter11="Once upon a time there lived a stonecutter, who went every day to a great rock in the side of a big mountain and cut out slabs for gravestones or for houses. He understood very well the kinds of stones wanted for the different purposes, and as he was a careful workman he had plenty of customers. For a long time he was quite happy and contented, and asked for nothing better than what he had. Now in the mountain dwelt a spirit which now and then appeared to men, and helped them in many ways to become rich and prosperous. The stonecutter, however, had never seen this spirit, and only shook his head, with an unbelieving air, when anyone spoke of it. But a time was coming when he learned to change his opinion. ";

var chapter12="One day the stonecutter carried a gravestone to the house of a rich man, and saw there all sorts of beautiful things, of which he had never even dreamed. Suddenly his daily work seemed to grow harder and heavier, and he said to himself: \"Oh, if only I were a rich man, and could sleep in a bed with silken curtains and golden tassels, how happy I should be!\" And a voice answered him: \"Your wish is heard; a rich man you shall be!\" ";

var chapter13="At the sound of the voice the stonecutter looked around, but could see nobody. He thought it was all his fancy, and picked up his tools and went home, for he did not feel inclined to do any more work that day. But when he reached the little house where he lived, he stood still with amazement, for instead of his wooden hut was a stately palace filled with splendid furniture, and most splendid of all was the bed, in every respect like the one he had envied. He was nearly beside himself with joy, and in his new life the old one was soon forgotten. ";

var chapter14="It was now the beginning of summer, and each day the sun blazed more fiercely. One morning the heat was so great that the stonecutter could scarcely breathe, and he determined he would stop at home till the evening. He was rather dull, for he had never learned how to amuse himself, and was peeping through the closed blinds to see what was going on in the street, when a little carriage passed by, drawn by servants dressed in blue and silver. In the carriage sat a prince, and over his head a golden umbrella was held, to protect him from the sun\'s rays. ";

var chapter15="\"Oh, if I were only a prince!\" said the stonecutter to himself, as the carriage vanished around the corner. \"Oh, if I were only a prince, and could go in such a carriage and have a golden umbrella held over me, how happy I should be!\" And a prince he was. Before his carriage rode one company of men and another behind it; servants dressed in scarlet and gold bore him along, the coveted umbrella was held over his head, everything his heart could desire was his. But yet it was not enough. ";

var chapter16="He looked around still for something to wish for, and when he saw that in spite of the water he poured on the grass the rays of the sun scorched it, and that in spite of the umbrella held over his head each day his face grew browner and browner, he cried in his anger: \"The sun is mightier than I; oh, if I were only the sun!\" And the mountain spirit answered: \"Your wish is heard; the sun you shall be.\" And the sun he was, and felt himself proud in his power. He shot his beams above and below, on earth and in heaven; he burnt up the grass in the fields and scorched the faces of princes as well as of poorer folk. but in a short time he began to grow tired of his might, for there seemed nothing left for him to do. ";

var chapter17="Discontent once more filled his soul, and when a cloud covered his face, and hid the earth from him, he cried in his anger: \"Does the cloud hold captive my rays, and is it mightier than I? Oh, if I were a cloud, and mightier than any!\" And the mountain spirit answered: \"Your wish is heard; a cloud you shall be!\" And a cloud he was, and lay between the sun and the earth. He caught the sun\'s beams and held them, and to his joy the earth grew green again and flowers blossomed. But that was not enough for him, and for days and weeks he poured forth rain till the rivers overflowed their banks, and the crops of rice stood in water. ";

var chapter18="Towns and villages were destroyed by the power of the rain, only the great rock on the mountainside remained unmoved. The cloud was amazed at the sight, and cried in wonder: \"Is the rock, then, mightier than I? Oh, if I were only the rock!\" And the mountain spirit answered; \"Your wish is heard; the rock you shall be!\" And the rock he was, and gloried in his power. Proudly he stood, and neither the heat of the sun nor the force of the rain could move him. \"This is better than all!\" he said to himself. But one day he heard a strange noise at his feet, and when he looked down to see what it could be, he saw a stonecutter driving tools into his surface. ";

var chapter19="Even while he looked a trembling feeling ran all through him, and a great block broke off and fell upon the ground. Then he cried in his wrath: \"Is a mere child of earth mightier than a rock? Oh, if I were only a man!\" And the mountain spirit answered: \"Your wish is heard. A man once more you shall be!\" ";

var chapter20="And a man he was, and in the sweat of his brow he toiled again at his trade of stone cutting. His bed was hard and his food scanty, but he had learned to be satisfied with it, and did not long to be something or somebody else. And as he never asked for things he did not have, or desired to be greater and mightier than other people, he was happy at last, and never again heard the voice of the mountain spirit. ";


allChapters=new Array(chapter0,chapter1,chapter2,chapter3,chapter4,chapter5,chapter6,chapter7,chapter8,chapter9,chapter10,chapter11,chapter12,chapter13,chapter14,chapter15,chapter16,chapter17,chapter18,chapter19,chapter20);