"The Old Man of the North took up his writing brush, and with careful strokes he changed the figure one into a nine, so that the length of Tong's years read ninety-nine instead of nineteen. The young man's heart was filled with happiness. He fell to his knees and kowtowed again and again to the Old Man of the North. As he was taking his leave, the Old Man spoke to him thus: 'Say to that fortuneteller, Kwan Lo, that he did wrong to tell you how long you should live. Bid him take care not to give away our secrets again. The time set by heaven should not be known upon earth. Either it gives too much joy or it gives too much sadness. And you, young gentleman, keep what we have done for you to yourself. We do not want every man, woman, and child rushing up our mountainside to beg us to change the figures beside their names in the Book of Life.'"
When the Old Old One had ended her story, little Yu Lang rose from her seat and toddled on her bound feet to the side of her grandmother's chair. She put her small hand timidly upon the silver gray silk of the Old Old One's gown and she looked up into her face.
"I shall pray to the Old Man of the North that he will let you live also for ninety-nine years, Lao Lao," she said. Tears filled her soft black eyes as she remembered the smooth wooden coffin which her grandmother kept so carefully, ready, in one of the rooms of her apartment. The little girl and her brother and the other children inside the bright red gate of the Lings truly hoped that their Lao Lao would live for a long time. They could not imagine what their days would be like if they had no Old Old One to love them and teach them and tell them splendid stories about wonderful things that happened long, long ago.
Other Tuttle Books Available:
The Box Man by Kobo Abe; trans. by E. Dale Saunders
The Face of Another by Kobo Abe; trans. by E. Dale Saunders
Inter Ice Age 4 trans. by E. Dale Saunders
Secret Rendezvous trans. by Juliet Winters Carpenter
The Woman in Dunes by Kobo Abe; trans. by E. Dale Saunders
Kappa trans. by Geoffrey Bownas
Rashomon and Other Stories trans. by Takashi Kojima
Japanese Short Stories trans. by Takashi Kojima
Crackling Mountain and Other Stories trans. by James O'Brien
No Longer Human trans. by Donald Keene
Deep River trans. by Van C. Gessel
Foreign Studies trans. by Mark Williams
Scandal trans. by Van C. Gessel
Wonderful Fool trans. by Francis Mathy
The Counterfeiter and Other Stories trans. by Leon Picon
The Hunting Gun trans. by Sadamichi Yokoo and Sandford Goldstein
Beauty and Sadness trans. by Howard Hibbett
The Izu Dancer and Other Stories trans. by Edward G. Seidensticker
Old Capital trans. by Martin Holman
Snow Country trans. by Edward G. Seidensticker
The Sound of the Mountain trans. by Edward G. Seidensticker
Thousand Cranes trans. by Edward G. Seidensticker
After the Banquet trans. by Donald Keene
Confessions of a Mask trans. by Meredith Weatherby
Five Modern No Plays trans. by Donald Keene
The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea trans. by John Nathan
The Sound of Waves trans. by Meredith Weatherby
The Temple of the Golden Pavillion trans. by Ivan Morris
Thirst for Love trans. by Alfred H. Marks
Spring Snow trans. by Michael Gallagher
Runaway Horses trans. by Michael Gallagher
The Temple of Dawn trans. by E. Dale Saunders and Cecilia Segawa Seigle
The Decay of the Angel trans. by Edward G. Seidensticker
And Then trans. by Norma Moore Field
Botchan trans. by Umeji Sasaki
Grass on the Wayside trans. by Edwin McClellan
I Am a Cat Vol. 1 trans. by Aiko Ito and Graeme Wilson
I Am a Cat Vol. 2 trans. by Aiko Ito and Graeme Wilson
I Am a Cat Vol. 3 trans. by Aiko Ito and Graeme Wilson
Kokoro trans. by Edwin McClellan
The Miner trans. by Jay Rubin
Mon trans. by Francis Mathy
The Three-Cornerd World trans. by Alan Turney
The Wayfarer trans. by Beongcheong Yu
Diary of a Mad Old Man trans. by Howard Hibbett
In Praise of Shadows trans. by Thomas J. Harper and Edward G. Seidensticker
The Key trans. by Howard Hibbett
Makioka Sisters trans. by Edward G. Seidensticker
Naomi trans. by Anthony H. Chambers
Some Prefer Nettles trans. by Edward G. Seidensticker
The Buddha Tree by Fumio Niwa; trans. by Kenneth Strong
Fires on the Plain by Shohei Ooka; trans. by Ivan Morris
Harp of Burma by Michio Takeyama; trans. by Howard Hibbett
Japanese Tales of Mystery & Imagination by Edogawa Rampo; trans. by James B. Harris
The Journey by Jiro Osaragi; trans. by Ivan Morris
My Asakusa by Sadako Sawamatsu; trans. by Norman E. Stafford and Yasuhiro Kawamura
The Paper Door and Other Stories by Naoya Shiga; trans. by Lane Dunlop
A Personal Matter by Kenzaburo Oe; trans. by John Nathan
Romaji Diary and Sad Toys by Takuboku Ishikawa; trans. by Sanford Goldstein and Seishi Shinoda
Shiorari Pass by Ayako Miura; trans. by Bill and Seila Fearnehough
The Square Persimmon and Other Stories by Takashi Atoda; trans. by Millicent Horton
A Strange Tale from East of the River and Other Stories by Kafu Nagai; trans. by Edward G. Seidensticker
Vita Sexualis by Ogai Mori; trans. by Kingo Ochiai and Sanford Goldstein
Anthology
Anthology of Modern Japanese Poetry trans. and compiled by Edith Marcombe Shiffert and Yuki Sawa
A Late Chrysanthemum trans. by Lane Dunlop
Modern Japanese Literature compiled and edited by Donald Keene
Modern Japanese Stories edited by Ivan Morris; trans. by Edward G. Seidensticker
Classics & Historical Novels
Comrade Loves of the Samurai by Ihara Saikaku; trans. by E. Powys Mathers
Essays in Idleness: The Tsurezuregusa of Kenko trans. by Donald Keene
Five Woman Who Loved Love by Ihara Saikaku; trans. by William Theodore de Bary
The Forty-Seven Ronin Story by John Allyn
The Gossamer Years trans. by Edward G. Seidensticker
The Heike Story by Eiji Yoshikawa; trans. by Uenaka Uematsu
The Kojiki trans. by Basil Hall
The Life of an Amorous Man by Ihara Saikaku; trans. by Kengi Hamada
Memoirs of the Warrior Kumagai by Donald Richie
The Ronin by William Dale Jennings
Shank's Mare by Jippensha Ikku; trans. by Thomas Satchell
The Taiheiki trans. by Helen Craig McCullough
The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu; trans. by Edward G. Seidensticker
The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu; trans. by Kencho Suematsu
The Tale of Genji; A Reader's Guide by William J. Puette
The Ten Foot Square Hut and Tales of the Heike trans. by A.L. Sadler
Japanese Poetry & Haiku
A Chime of Windbells trans. and essay by Harold Stewart
Chiyo-ni: Woman Haiku Master edited and trans. by Patricia Donegon and Yoshie Ishibashi
Classic Haiku selected and trans. by Yuzuru Miura
Haiku Moment edited by Bruce Ross
Hundred Verses from Old Japan trans. by Willam N. Porter
Song from a Bamboo Village by Masaoka Shiki; trans. by Sanford Goldstein and Seishi Shinoda
Written on Water trans. by Takashi Kojima
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