The Terrible Leak

Retold
By Yoshiko Uchida

One rainy night, long, long ago, a small boy sat with his grandmother and grandfather around a chaacoal brazier. Warming their hand over the glowing coals, they told stories and talked of many things. Outside, the wind blew and the rain splattered on the thatched roof of the cottage.

The old man looked up at the ceiling saying,"I surely hope we dont have a leak. Nothing would be so terrible as to have to put up a new thatched roof now when we are so busy in the fields."

The little boy listened to the lonely wail of the wind as it whipped through the bamboo grove. He shivered and turned to look at his grandfather's face. It was calm and smiling and unafraid.

"Ojii-san," the little boy said suddenly. "is there anything you're afraid of?"

The old man laughed,"why, of course, lad,"he said

"There are many things a man fears in life."

"Whell then,"said the little boy,"what are you most afraid of in all the world?'

The old man rubbed his bald head, and thought for a moment as he puffed on his pipe.

"Let me see," he said."Among human beings, I think I fear a thief the most."

Now, at the very moment the old man was saying this, a thief had climbed onto the roof of the coshed, hoping to steal one of the cow. He happened to hear what theold man said, and he thrust out his chest proudly.

"So!" he thought to him self," I am the very thing the old man fears most in all the world!" And he laughed to think how frightened the old man and woman would be if they only knew a thief was in their yard this very minute

"Ojii-san," the little boy went on,"Of all the animals in the world, which one are you most afraid of?"

Again, the old man thougt for a moment, and then he said, "of all the animals, i think I fear the wolf the most."

Just as the old man said this, a wolf was prowling around the cowshed, for he had come to see if there were some chickens he might steal. Whe he heard what the old man said, he laughed on himself. "Ah-ha!" he said. "So I am the animal the old man fears the most," and wiggling his nose, he sniffed haughtily

But inside the house, the little boy went on.

"Ojii-san," he said, "even more than a thief or a wolf, what are you the most, most, most afraid of?"

The old man sat thinking for a long while, and thoughts of ogres and demons and terrible dragons filled  the little boy's head. But the old man was listening to the rain as it splashed and trickled in rivulets of water around the house. He thougt again how terrible it would be to have a leak in his roof. He turned to the boy and said,"Well, the one thing I fear most of all right now is a leak! And I afraid one may come along any minute!"

Now when the thief and the wolf heard this, they didn't know the old man was talking about a leak in the roof. 

"A leak, "thougt the thief, "What kind of terrible animal could that be? if the old man fears it more than a thief or a wolf, it must be a fearsome thing!"

Down below, the wolf thougt the same thing."A leak must be a dreadful creature if the old man fears it more than me or a thief," he thought. And he peered into the darkness, wondering if a leak might not spring out of the forest, for the old man had said one might come at any moment.

Up on the roof of the cowshed, the thief got so excited he slipped and tumbled down into the darkness. But instead of falling to the ground, he fell right on the back of the wolf.

The wolf gave a frightened yelp. From somewhere above him in the dark night, something had leaped on his back and was clutching his neck. "This must be the terrible leak the old man talked about," thought the wold, and with his tail between his legs, he ran pell mell into the woods.

to be continue................