Saint of Mt. Koya
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7

"There was no way to avoid the encounter if I continued on my way, and it was impossible to turn back, so I tried to get a grip on myself. When I looked again, the body of the snake was still in the road confronting me. I ran off the path into the grass making a wide detour around it. Even as I did so, however, I was in a panic, fearing that the front half of the snake might be pursuing me. Just the thought of this paralyzed my legs and caused me to stumble over a stone. Apparently that is when I twisted my knee.

"From then on I continued walking along the road, but it was difficult. I felt like just collapsing where I was and dying from heat exhaustion. Nevertheless, I made up my mind to get hold of myself and to continue toward the pass no matter how difficult that proved to be.

"The grass was rank beside the road and gave off a terrible stench. Underfoot I was continually stepping on the remains of what appeared to be the eggs of some sort of large bird.


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Intangible