A samurai fell in love
with the wife of a government official.
The samurai and the wife
became lovers. The official discovered the romance and confronted the
samurai.
In self-defense the
samurai killed the official.
The samurai and official's
wife fled and lived as thieves.
The samurai slowly became
unhappy, and then disgusted with what he had done. He left the woman.
The samurai vowed to do
something to atone for his misdeeds. So he began to dig a long tunnel
to bypass a treacherous mountain road in a remote area.
After thirty years of
digging at night and begging for his food by day, he was two years
from finishing the tunnel when the son of the killed official
appeared. The son was determined to kill him in revenge.
The former samurai asked
the son to allow him first to finish the tunnel, after which he would
allow the son, who had become a skilled swordsman, to kill him.
The son watched him dig
and after several months began to help with the digging.
When the tunnel was
completed the former samurai told the son he could now kill him. But,
the official's son, moved by the strength of the tunnel digger's vow,
refused and called the old samurai his teacher.
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