Dragon of the Red Dawn: A Merlin Mission

“Cakes and pastries!” “Rope and twine!”
One woman had a large box strapped to her back. “Books! Books!” she shouted.
“No thank you,” said Jack. He loved books, but he kept going. He was afraid the samurai might show up again at any moment.
A boy carried birdcages and shouted, “Birds! Birds!”
Suddenly Jack felt a hand on his shoulder. He nearly had a heart attack! But it was just Basho. “I live that way,” said Basho, pointing. “Over the bridge.”
Jack and Annie walked with Basho over a small, narrow bridge that crossed a canal.
Basho led them past a temple, then past small bamboo houses with chickens in their yards. Little children were spinning tops on the dusty ground. One called out, “Hello, Master Basho!” Basho smiled and waved.
Then Jack and Annie walked with Basho along the dirt path bordering the river. Tall pine trees lined the riverbank. A dry wind blew leaves and pine needles into the shallows. Jack started to breathe more easily. He felt safer now.
The trail grew more narrow. The sun slipped behind the tops of the trees. Jack was eager to get to Basho’s castle. He looked for a steep roof and high stone walls like the castles of the samurai.
Through the deepening shadows of twilight, Basho led them to a clearing not far from the river.
At the center of the clearing was a pond overgrown with weeds. On the far side of the pond, moss-covered stones led to the door of a tiny hut. The hut was made of bamboo and had a roof of wood shingles. Next to the small hut was a large plant with droopy green leaves.
“Welcome to my castle,” said Basho.

“ T his is your castle?” said Jack.
Basho smiled. “In my heart, my humble cottage is grander than all the castles of the samurai,” he explained. “And my banana tree is more beautiful to me than all the beauty of the Imperial Garden.”
Jack and Annie stared at the large plant with the long, droopy leaves.
“I like this tree so much I have taken my name from it,” said Basho. “Basho means ‘banana tree.’”
“Cool,” said Annie. She looked around. “It’s nice here.”
Not really , thought Jack. The cottage was shabby and the droopy banana tree looked scrawny and sad to him.

“Please come inside,” said Basho. He slipped off his sandals and left them outside. He pickedup a bundle of wood, then ducked through the low door that led into his hut.
Jack and Annie took off their shoes, too, and followed Basho into a small, shadowy room.
Basho opened his shutters to let in the evening air. “Please sit,” he said.
“Thank you,” said Jack and Annie. Jack looked around the room for chairs, but thereweren’t any. The only furniture was a low wooden table and a bamboo chest. Three straw mats covered the earthen floor. Jack and Annie sat down on one of the mats.
Basho lit a small oil lamp. Then he made a fire in his fireplace. “I will prepare tea for us,” he said. “Rest while I draw water from the river.” He picked up one of the two wooden buckets near the door and headed outside.
When Basho was gone, Jack and Annie looked at each other. “I guess this is a three-mat house,” said Annie.
Jack nodded. “You’d think a famous teacher of the samurai would have a hundred-mat house … or at least a fifty-mat house,” he said.
“I like this house, though,” said Annie. “It’s cozy.”
“I wonder who Basho is exactly,” said Jack.
“If he’s famous, maybe he’s in our book,” said Annie. “Look him up.”
“Good idea,” said Jack. He pulled the researchbook out of his bag. By the light of the crackling fire, he looked up Basho in the index. “He is here!” Jack turned to the right page and read aloud.
Basho is one of Japan’s greatest poets.
He wrote short, beautiful poems that
speak to people as clearly today as they
did during the Edo period of Japan.
“Basho’s a great poet !” said Annie. “That explains everything!”
“Sort of …,” said Jack. “It explains why we had to recite poems to the samurai. But it doesn’t explain why Basho lives in such a dinky house.”
Basho opened the door and came in with his bucket. Jack closed the book and slipped it back into his bag.
Basho poured river water into an iron pot over the fire. He pulled three tiny bowls and a small cloth bag from the bamboo chest. He took loose green tea from the bag and dropped it into the bowls. Then he waited patiently for the water to boil.
Jack and Annie waited patiently, too. Listening to the soft rushing sounds