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THE HARE OF INABA 
 
 V 
 
 
 /T 
 
 there were 
 eighty-one 
 brothers, who were Princes 
 in the land. They were all jealous 
 of one another, each one wishing to 
 be King, to rule over the others, 
 and over the whole Kingdom. 
 Besides this, each one wanted to 
 marry the same Princess. She was 
 the Princess of Yakami in Inaba. 
 At last they made up their minds 
 
 1 
 
 

 that they would go together to Ina_ 
 haj and each one try to persuade the 
 Princess to marry him. Although 
 eighty of these brothers were jealous 
 of one another, yet they all agreed 
 in hating, and being unkind to the 
 eighty-first, who was good and gen- 
 tle, and did not like their rough, quar- 
 relsome ways. When they set out 
 upon their journey, they made the 
 poor eighty-first brother walk behind 
 them, and carry the bag, just as if 
 he had been their servant, although 
 he was their own brother, and as 
 much a Prince as any of them all. 
 
 
 
 
By and by, the eighty Princes 
 came to Cape Keta, and there they 
 found a poor hare, with all his fur 
 plucked out, lying down very sick 
 and miserable. The eighty Princes 
 said to the hare, 
 
 “We will tell you what you 
 should do. 
 
Go and bathe in the sea water, and 
 
 then lie down 
 
 on the slope of a high mountain, 
 and let the wind blow upon you. 
 That will soon make your fur grow, 
 we promise you.” 
 
^^just stop a moment and I will tell 
 you all my story. I was in the 
 island of Oki, and I wanted to cross 
 over to this land. I didn’t know 
 how to get 
 upon a plan 
 crocodiles. 
 
 over 
 
 

 Let us count how many croco- 
 diles there are in the sea, and how 
 many hares there are in the land. 
 And now to begin with the croco- 
 diles. Come^ every one of you, and 
 lie down in a row, across from this 
 island to Cape Keta, then I will 
 step upon each one, and count you 
 as I run across. When I have 
 finished counting you, we can 
 count the hares, and then we shall 
 know whether there are most hares, 
 or most crocodiles. ” 
 
 The crocodiles came and lay 
 down in a row. Then I stepped on 
 
 
i them and counted them as I ran 
 j across, and was just going to jump 
 on shore, when I laughed and said, 
 ^^You silly crocodiles, I don’t care 
 how many of you there are. I only 
 wanted a bridge to get across by.” 
 Oh! why did I boast until I was 
 safe on dry land? For the last 
 
 crocodile, the one which lay at the 
 
plucked off all my fur.” 
 
 “ And serve you right too, for being so 
 tricky.” said the eighty-first brother ; 
 “however, go on with your story,” 
 “As I was lying here crying,” 
 
I 
 
 continued the hare^ ^‘the eighty Prin- 
 ces who went by before you, told me 
 to bathe in salt water, and lie down in 
 the wind. I did as they told me, but 
 I am ten times worse than before, and 
 my whole body is smarting and sore.” 
 
 Then the eighty-first brother said 
 to the hare, Go quickly now to 
 the river, it is quite near. Wash 
 yourself well with the fresh water, 
 then take the pollen of the sedges 
 growing on the river bank, spread 
 it about on the ground, and roll 
 among it ; if you do this, your skin 
 will heal, and your fur grow again.” 
 

 and this time he was quite cured, 
 and his fur grew thicker than ever. 
 
 Then the hare said to the eighty- 
 first brother, ^^As for those eighty 
 
 Princes, your brothers, 
 they shall not get 
 the Princess 
 of Inaba. 
 Although you 
 carry 
 
 bag, yet your 
 Highness shall at last get 
 both the princess and the country.” 
 
Which things came to pass, for the 
 Princess would have nothing to 
 do with those eighty bad brothers, 
 but chose the eighty-first who was 
 kind and good. Then he was 
 made King of the country, and 
 lived happily 
 all his