Samurais Tale 1-8

1. One day Taro’s mother dressed him in a servant’s clothes. She told their servant girl Yone to hide with me in in the storehouse. When the soldiers came, they found Taro and Yone. A soldier brought Taro to the leader. He saw his mother and brothers dead. When he held up his bamboo sword to defend himself, the officers laughed. Lord Takeda gave Taro as a servant to his officer Lord Akiyama. | | 2. In the morning, they had to march with the army. They came to the town of Kofuchu. There Lord Takeda ruled the province of Kai from his castle. Lord Akiyama lived in a mansion. The soldier brought Taro to Lord Akiyama’s cookhouse. | | 3. Taro never saw Yone again. His new job was to help Togan, the cook. When he was eleven, Lord Takeda’s son had an archery contest. Taro was not content to be a servant. | | 4. Togan’s death came too soon. One day, he took me to watch a wrestling match. A drunken bully insulted him and hit him, then stabbed him.
Just then, Lord Akiyama came and arrested the bully. Afterward, I asked Lord Akiyama to let me work with his horses, and he agreed. | | 5. I became the youngest stable boy. Another boy, Jiro, often bullied me. But I was better with the horses, and soon I ranked higher than Jiro. | | 6. One night, when I was fourteen, Lord Akiyama ordered me to saddle two horses. I was to ride with the prince, Takeda Katsuyori, but not to tell about it. We rode in the dark to Toko-ji Temple. There I waited patiently, but in fear of the place. Lord Takeda’s older son Yoshinobu was imprisoned there, because he had joined a rebellion against his father. Finally, Prince Katsuyori came out silently and we returned home. Next morning, we heard that Prince Yoshinobu committed suicide. I wondered if Katsuyori had helped him, or executed him. | | 7. The next year, I decided to practice Zen meditation in the temple. The reason was not serious religion. Really, I wanted to be near other samurai who practiced meditation, because I wanted