The Sword Of Yoshida

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 131, 27 February 1937, Page 27

The Sword Of Yoshida

Little Mio San poked her dark head cautiously round the door of her . father’s private room. It was a dark, forbidding room, the walls of which were hung with coats of dark, glossy, lacquered mail, and many other articles r of war, but Mio eyes for nothing else but a huge sword which hung there in such splendour. It occupied a place of honour, the silvery blade and jewel-studded hilt gleaming and flashing in a stray beam of sunlight which had found its way into the dark room. ,• Mio San seated herself before the great weapon and gazed at it for a while, then her eyes grew dreamy, and she fell to musing about the many battles (he sword (must have been wielded in. ■So intent was she upon spinning

dreams and fancies that she did not see nor hear her father, the noble Yoshida, step silently into the room. “Well, m,v little love, what brings you here?” said he. Mio San jumped swiftly to her feet. Her heart fluttered wildly. “Oh, honourable father.” she murmured, as she bowed low. “I only came to see the sword.” Then, seeing something like ' a twinkle in his eyes, she put her little 'olive tinted hand confidingly in his. “Tell me about the sword, please,” she coaxed. Yoshida’s stern face relaxed slightly, and placing one arm around his daughter. he reached for the sword with the other. Holding the precious weapon he began. "Long. long ago, this swprd was given to one of my honourable ancestors by a great wizard in return for some service. It always goes true to its aim.

and while it is in the hands of any of our house no harm can come to them. > When the sword was given to my honourable sire, its hilt was plain gold and bronze; no jewels glinted on it as now. But for every one of the enemies of our family which this sword has ■ killed, my fathers have set a gem in its hilt” Yoshida stopped and sat in silence

for a moment, a smile playing round his lips. Then he placed the sword in Mio San’s eager hands and bade her strike at his heart. At first, with horror in her face, Mio San refused, but her father was not to be, disobeyed. • So. taking the sword in a*firm grasp, she struck forward. Then her dark eyes opened wide with “inazement, for the sword had not touched her father 1 . The gleaming blade had curled away! , Yoshida laughed softly. “See,” he said, “the sword will harm no one in whose veins flows the blood of our house.” Then, as Mio San still marvelled at the magical sword, and ran her little hand up and down its sharp blade without even scratching herself, there came a knock at ‘the door, and • Iwo richly-clad men entered. One carried a small but strong-looking box. Yoshida rose to his feet, his little

daughter and the sword forgotten. Gravely he bowed low to his visitors, and spoke in a voice scarcely showing the excitement his glittering eyes z showed. “You have got them?”—“Yes.” Yoshida took the little box and opened it. and plunged his hand into it. bringing up a handful of beautifullycut diamonds. For a few momenta he fondled the jewels, then crossed the room and locked the box in a large chest. Suddenly he remembered Mio San, who still sat there holding the sword, but keeping interested eyes on the proceedings. He frowned testily. : as if . angered at seeing her still there, and sharply hade her leave the room. All next day Mio San thought about the sword and longed to see it again and learn more about it. At last, unable to wait any longer, she crept down lhe passage to her father’s room, her so; t padded sandals making no sound. Slowly she opened the door. The room was empty, and, joy of joys! the sword was not hanging out of her reach on ihe wall, but learned against it just where she had left it the day before. Happily she crept toward the precious object, its flashing splendour drawing, her like a magnet. Grasping it in both bauds at last she seated herself, and proceeded to count the jems in its hilt. She had not long been there, when the sound of footsteps startled her. She looked up, as her father entered, followed by two servants she had never seen before. Dancing lightly toward him she playfully. plunged the sword forward. A jet of blood spurted from where the sword had embedded itself in big heart 1 He fell to the ground < with a dull thud. For a moment Mio San and the servants gazed at each oilier, then one made a dash for the chest where she had seen her father place the diamonds the day before. The other sprang to help him. In a second or-two they had it open. Only when they lifted the diamonds from the chest did Mio San’s numbed brain realise what had happened. She had not killed her father—it was an impostor—and these men were thieves. With a wild shriek she sprung upon the two. With a lightning twist the

sword seemed to strike of its own accord, first at one and then at the other, and in a very short time they lay writhing on the floor. Then came the sound of running footsteps and raised voices. Mio San began to feel fearful. Who had she really killed? She glanced apprehensively round the room as if looking for a hiding place, but the next instant the door was flung open, and there stood assembled the whole of her father’s household. For a moment she faced them in dead silence. Then her mother, seeing the figure of him she thought was her husband, gave a low moan. With a cry Mio’s eldest brother sprung forward. “Child,” he cried, “what is this -what have you done?” Mio San felt a dizzying blackness engulfing her, but she fought it off. W'ith an effort she .steadied herself and called out loudly, “This is not my father. It is an impostor. The sword would not kill one of our family.” Then darkness came over her again, and the sword fell from her grasp as she sank to the ground. Just as she fell she heard from afar, as it seemed, her,father’s voice, demanding an explanation. A few days later the sword hung in its place again, put there by Mio San, with three new glistening diamonds in the hilt, three for three enemies of her house Mio San had killed. Another story had been added to the history of the sword of Yoshida