X. THE REVIVAL

At last the gaki-ami was brought to the hot springs of the famed temple of Kumano Gongen, and, by the aid of those compassionate persons who pitied its state, was daily enabled to experience the healing effects of the bath.

After a single week the effects of the bath caused the eyes, nose, ears, and mouth to reappear; after fourteen days all the limbs had been fully re-formed;

And after one-and-twenty days the nameless shape was completely transformed into the real Oguri-Hangwan Kane-uji, perfect and handsome as he had been in other years.

When this marvelous change had been effected, Kane-uji looked all about him, and wondered much when and how he had been brought to that strange place.

But through the august influence of the god of Kumano things were so ordained that the revived prince could return safely to his home at Nijo in Kyoto, where his parents, the lord Kane-ie and his spouse, welcomed him with great joy.

Then the august Emperor, hearing all that had happened, thought it a wonderful thing that an of his subjects, after having been dead three years, should have thus revived.

And not only did he gladly pardon the fault for which the Hangwan had been banished, but further appointed him to be lord ruler of the three provinces, Hitachi, Sagami, and Mino.