４
There were already quite many flower leafs of sakura
(cherry) brought there by wind in front of the dungeon.
As usual, the monk reached in front of the dungeon, in
the sunlight streaming through tree leaves, over those
flower leafs of sakura brought there by wind.
The culprit has been already aware the monk's visit
by the sound of his footsteps approaching to the dun-
geon before the monk appeared. And when the monk, who
is the priest of the Buddhism temple, appered in front
of his dungeon, the culprit sat with his legs folded
and bowed to the monk who visited him. Then, the monk
bowed to the culprit too. The monk, then, looked around
his foot in front of the dungeon and spoke to the culp-
rit in quiet voice.
“Cherry trees are beginning to bloom, aren't they?”
The cluprit nodded in his dungeon.
“It seems they began to bloom earlier than usual this year.”
The wind blew up when the monk said so. And the flower leafs
of sakura danced in the wind. The wind made sounds over them
and then went somewhere afar. Meanwhile, the culprit kept
sitting quietly in the dungeon and he seemed to have smiled
slightly. Looking his figure in the dungeon, the monk was
by chance reminded of what happened in front of this dunge-
on 6 years ago. It was what happened here in the spring of
1 year after the culprit was confined in this dungeon for
his false charge. Cherries around this temple had bloomed
earlier than usual in the spring as well. In one morning of
the spring of the early cherries, the monk, who had been
taking care of the culprit in the dungeon already for a
year by the order of the lord, pondered for a night hear-
ing the sound of wind announcing the arrival of spring,
and made up his mind at last. After he pondered through
the night, the monk visited the dungeon earlier than
usual in the morning. Then, when he certified a young
monk returned to the templ's house after he brought
the breakfast for the culprit to the dungeon, the
monk, who is the priest of the temple, opened the
lattice door of the dungeon and said to the culp-
rit “Now, come out”. It was very windy on the day
too like today. The monk said again to the culprit
who was sitting on his knees in the dungeon
“Now, why don't you come out?”.
The culprit, however, did not come out of his dun-
geon. Instead, he smiled without a word and bowed
deeply to the monk and then kept his eyes closed
as if to maditate there. Sakura(cherries) were in
full bloom out of his dungeon at the time. And the
flower leafs of cherries, which the wind had brou-
ght to the dungeon, kept dancing without end at
the foot of the monk.
(To be continued)
