THE ISLAND OF SHELLS

From Buddha's image at Kamakura to Enoshima, the island of shells, there is first a ride in jinrikishas through the low screen of hills that shuts the little village away from the sea; then there is a walk across the wet sands if the tide is out, or over a light wooden bridge if the waves wash over the path.

It was late in the afternoon when the jinrikisha men trotted down from the hills through a deep-cut path to the shore, and UmÉ could hear the slow rollers breaking on the sands before she caught her first glimpse of the lovely green island.

The tide was coming in, but the water was still so shallow that the children were permitted to take off their sandals and tabi, and patter across the sands in their bare feet, while the older people walked slowly across the bridge.

The sands were strewn with lovely shells, left by the tide, and Baby Yuki soon had the sleeve pockets of her kimono filled full of pearly beauties that looked like peach blossoms.

Tara cared nothing for the shells. He spoke about the great tortoise which is said to live among the caves of the island, and of the bronze dragons which twisted around the gate through which they passed to enter the long climbing street of the town.

"I will ask the august father if we may visit the cave of the dragon," he said.

"Japan must have been full of dragons once," said UmÉ. "Who killed them all?"

"They turned into the honorable dragon-flies, to drive away the mosquitoes," answered Tara.

"There have been no dragons seen alive in Japan since the holy Buddha walked on the mountain," said his father.

"Tell us about it, please," begged UmÉ.

"Long ago," began the father, "as Shaka Sama, our most holy Buddha, walked on the mountain-top at eventime, he looked into the depths below and saw there the great dragon who knew the meaning of all things. Shaka Sama asked him many questions and to them all he received wise answers.

"Finally he asked the sacred question which he most wished to understand; but the dragon replied that, before revealing this last great mystery, he must first be fed for his endless hunger.

"Shaka Sama promised to give himself to the dragon after he should have been told this great truth. Then the dragon uttered the sacred mystery and the god threw himself into the abyss as he had promised.

"But just as the fearful jaws were about to close over the holy man, the dragon was changed into a great eight-petaled lotus flower which held the Buddha up in its cup and bore him back to his place on the mountain."

"I thought there was a dragon in the cave at Enoshima to guard Benten Sama's temple," said UmÉ.

"There is no need of a dragon on the island," said her father. "The fisher boys who pray to her for good fortune make faithful guardians of her temple."

"Is it to help the fisher boys on sea, as well as unworthy little girls on land, that she has so many arms?" asked UmÉ.

But her father was leading the way along the rough street of the beautiful island, and did not answer.

Enoshima seems to be the home of all the shells in Japan. They lie heaped in all the houses and shops; shells as white and lustrous as moonlight, as rosy as dawn, as delicate as a baby's fingers. There are thousands and thousands of them piled together like the fallen petals of the pink cherry blossoms.

The street is lined on each side with tea-houses and little shops, and in every one may be seen miracles of shell-work. There are strings of mother-of-pearl fishes, of mother-of-pearl birds, tiny kittens, and foxes and dogs. There are mother-of-pearl storks and beetles and butterflies, crabs and lobsters, and bees made of shell poised on the daintiest of shell flowers, and there are necklaces, pins and hairpins in a hundred shapes.

Baby Yuki went about with her head bent to one side, holding her ear to the mouth of the largest shells, wherever she could find them. Deep in their pink chambers she could hear the sound of the sea, and the dull roar pleased her. After listening to each one she would look up into her mother's face with a happy smile.

Their father bought ornaments for the children, a necklace of wee, shimmering, mother-of-pearl fishes for the baby, a tortoise of pearl-shell for which Tara begged, and a spray of shell flowers for UmÉ.

For Tara he bought also a glass cup blown double, with a tiny shell in the liquid between the glass. Of course it was soon broken and, after they had climbed the steep steps to the temples and prayed to Benten Sama in her own island home, they went back to the shops and bought another.

Afterwards they sat upon the rocks and watched the tide flow in from the sea. Over the water skimmed the white sails of returning boats; the dragon's light, which we call phosphorescence, played at the edge of the waves, and there was no sound save that of the evening bells.

The twilight fell, making a gray sky in which rode a silver crescent.

"The Lady Moon," whispered UmÉ, and she joined her little hands, bent her head, and gave the prayer of welcome to O Tsuki Sama.

The father broke the stillness at last by telling the story of the famous warrior, Yoritomo, who made Kamakura a famous city hundreds of years ago.

"But Kamakura has been burned these many years," he said. "People come here now only to see Great Buddha and Enoshima."

"No," said UmÉ, "I came for something else. I came to ask Benten Sama for something which I very much wish."

"What is it?" asked Tara.

But UmÉ shut her lips together and shook her head that she would not tell.

"Were you afraid she would not hear you anywhere but in her own temple?" he asked again.

UmÉ nodded her head.

"I will surely find out what it was that you asked from her," said Tara mischievously.

Tara usually did find out UmÉ's little secrets in some way, either by making fun or by teasing her.

"O Maru San has put an honorable stillness upon her august tongue," he would say with a laugh.

"O Maru San" means "Honorable Miss Round," and when Tara said it, UmÉ knew he was making fun of her.

Little Japanese girls and boys do not like to be ridiculed. So, when Tara spoke that way, it usually ended in UmÉ's saying, "Don't call me that name, Tara. My secret was only about the tea-party that Tei and I are going to have in the garden."

And soon Tara would know just what kind of cakes they were going to have; because in Japan the cakes are made to suit the season, if one wishes to have an elaborate party.

Then, although it says in the book of "The Greater Learning for Women," that at the age of seven, boys and girls must not sit on the same mat nor eat at the same table, Tara was often invited to UmÉ's tea-parties.

Now, although they stayed all night at the inn at Enoshima and there was plenty of time to find out UmÉ's secret, she did not tell it, and Tara finally concluded that it was something more important than a tea-party.

In the early morning they stood once more upon the seashore, to watch the sun rise out of the ocean.

The children forgot everything else in looking at the beautiful sight. "It is like our noble flag!" said Tara.

Japan is called "The Land of the Rising Sun," and the emblem of the country is a round red sun on a white ground.

The children long remembered the beauty of that morning. In front of them the great sun rose in a cloudless sky; behind them Fuji lifted his noble head, and the blue sea stretched on either side as far as they could see.

At last the father said, "We will return to Tokio, to-day. We have had a pleasant and honorable holiday."

"I wish first to find some of the intelligent crabs that make straight tracks by crawling sideways," said Tara. He had seen in the tea-house at Enoshima some wonderful crabs, and hoped to find one for himself.

"And I wish to buy return gifts for Tei and Baby Onda in the shops!" said UmÉ.

So while Tara hunted for crabs after breakfast, UmÉ and her mother hunted for gifts.

The little boy found no large crabs; neither did he find any good place to fish for eels, but UmÉ found a lovely pearly necklace for Tei, and a pink shell for Onda.

In her eagerness to reach home and show the gifts, she gave little thought to the beautiful sights to be seen from the train.

She heard her grandmother say, "There are some fine young bamboo saplings. They would look well beside the gate-pine-tree at New Year time."

She heard Tara ask, "Why are they used in the gateway arch?" and her grandmother answered, "Because they stand for constancy and honesty."

"I will ask Benten Sama constantly for my wish to be fulfilled," said UmÉ to herself.

When they reached home, she ran at once to find Tei, but Tei had gone that very morning on a journey to Nikko.