" 'What a beautiful view of the river,' I cried out in delight.

" 'Yes. This river has its source in the waterfall upstream. Travellers in these mountains always report hearing a roar which they suppose is the sound of the wind. Didn't you hear something like that when you were on the road through here earlier today?'

"Now that she mentioned it, I recalled that I had heard something like that just before I encountered the leeches in the forest. 'Isn't that just the sound of the wind blowing through the forest?' I asked.

" 'No. That's what everyone says, but there is a waterfall about three miles up a side road from that forest. They say it is the largest waterfall in all Japan, but the road is so terrible not even one in ten travellers makes it through there. That waterfall is known to be a very violent one and just thirteen years ago there was a terrible flood along here. The water was higher than where we are standing now, and the village at the foot of the mountains and the mountains themselves and the houses were all swept away. Before that there were almost twenty houses located around here. It was the flood that brought the river into its present course as you see it now. All the stones and boulders you see jumbled up over there were all washed down by the river.'