First the Twins' Father took it down off the wall and rolled it up. Then he took it in his hand, and he and Taro and Take all went out into the garden.
When they reached the Kura, the Father unlocked the door, and all three stepped inside.
It was not very light, but the air was sweet and spicy. On the shelves about the room were many beautiful boxes of all sizes and shapes.
The Father reached up to a high shelf and took down three boxes, that looked just alike on the outside. He opened the first and took out a roll neatly wrapped and tied with a silk string. It was this picture of a Japanese lady who has run out quickly to take her washing off the line because of a shower of rain.
He held it up high so the Twins could see it.
"Ho, ho," laughed Taro. "The lady has lost her clog, she is in such a hurry!""She's just as wet as the crow," Take said, "and I don't believe she feels a bit happier!""She'll be wetter still before she gets her washing in, won't she?" the Father said. "The clouds seem to have burst just over her head! And, dear me,--how the wind is blowing her about! No, she won't do beside the plum branch."He opened another box and unrolled the next picture. Here it is.
Taro and Take looked at it a long time.
Then Take said, "What a beautiful dress the lady has on! I'd like to dress just like that when I grow up!""But she is walking out in the snow with an umbrella over her head," said Taro. "It isn't winter now."Then the Father unrolled the third.
"How do you like this one?" he asked.
It was a picture of a bird with a grasshopper in her bill, flying to a nest with three little birds in it. The little birds had their mouths wide open.
"Oh, that's the very one!" cried Take. "It's just like Mother, taking care of Taro and the Baby and me! Let's take that one."So they left that one out and carefully rolled up the others and put them back in place. They put the crow away too.
The Twins were just turning round to go out the door when their Father reached down one more package from a high shelf. "Wait a minute," he said; "I have some thing else to show you."The package was long and thin, and the covering was a piece of silk with the family crest embroidered on it in colored silks.
This was the crest.
Taro and Take knew it at once, for it was embroidered or stamped upon the sleeves of their kimonos. It was the sign of their family.
The Father took off this cover. Under it was a covering of brocaded silk.
It seemed a long time to the Twins before it was all unwrapped, they were so eager to see what was in the package.
At last their Father held up a beautiful sword with both his hands.
It was a long sword, with a handle of carved ivory, and a sheath with curious designs on it.
The Father bowed to the sword.
"You bow to the sword also, my son," he said to Taro. "It is wonderfully made. It commands respect."Taro bowed to the sword.
Then his Father drew the long blade from the sheath. He turned the edge carefully toward himself, and away from the Twins. "Iwant you to see this sword, Taro," he said, "for some time it will be yours, because you are my oldest son.""Whose was it?" asked Taro.
"It was your Grandfather's sword," his Father answered, "and you are old enough now to know what it means. I want you to remember what I say to you as long as you live.
"Your Grandfather was a gentleman, a Samurai of Japan. This was the sword he always wore. Many years ago there was trouble in Japan, and to help the Emperor, all the great dukes in the kingdom gave up their dukedoms. The Samurai also gave up their honorable positions in the service of these dukes, and became common citizens.
"Then your Grandfather put away his sword. Years after, when he was old, he gave it to me. But I do not wear it either, although I too am of the Samurai, and the sword is their badge of honor.