On a warm day in spring, a little girl and a little boy climbed aboard a ferry along a river with their mother. The ferry was just about to depart when a man called out, “Hey! Wait!”
A samurai ran along the riverbank, frantically waving his hands. He leaped onto the ferry.
After the ferry left the shore, the samurai chose a place right in the center of the ferry and sat down. The day was so warm that he soon began to drowse.
The samurai was strongly built and had a trimmed black beard. Watching him nap was an unusual sight that made the two small children start giggling.
Their mother brought a finger to her lips and shushed the children. “Be quiet, now,” she whispered. It was a terrible thing to anger a samurai.
The children fell silent.
After a little while, the little girl said, “Mommy! Mommy! I want candy!”
“I want candy, too!” the little boy said.
Their mother pulled out a paper bag from her breast pocket. She only had a single piece of candy left.
“Give it to me!” the little girl said.
“No, give it to me!” said the little boy.
The children stood to either side of their mother, eyes expectant. But their mother only had one piece of candy--she couldn’t possibly give it to both of them.
“I’ll give you both a piece of candy after we get off the ferry, if you’re good,” she said.
But the children were not satisfied.
“Give it to me!”
“No, me!”
The drowsing samurai sat up and opened his eyes, staring fixedly at the children.
Their mother stepped in front of the children to protect them, then shrank back in fear. She was certain the samurai would be enraged at being awakened from his nap.
“Behave,” she said to the children.
But the children didn’t listen.
The samurai drew his sword, then dashed up to the mother and her children.
The mother went pale and crouched down with her arms around her children. She believed that the samurai would kill them for waking him up.
“Give me the candy,” the samurai said.
With trembling hands, the mother passed the samurai her single piece of candy.
The samurai placed the piece of candy along the edge of the ferry, then used his sword to cut it cleanly in half. “Here you go,” the samurai said, passing each child a piece.
Then the samurai returned to the middle of the ferry and went back to sleep.
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