The Case of the Marble Monster [antikvár]

Introduction In the winter, in the house where I Hved in Japan, there were no stoves. Instead we had a kotatsu. This is a hole in the floor which holds a pot of sand in which some charcoal is placed. A very low table is placed over the hole and covered with a heavy quilt. The entire family sits on the mat around the table with their legs under the quilt. Well, it is a way to keep warm! I wondered when I started joining the group what we would find to talk about to make the long winter hours pass pleasantly. I soon learned we would not talk at all. We listened! Ojiisan — Grandfather — did all the talking. He was a little man — small as a gnome, with a face as wrinkled as a prune. He was nearly ninety, but his eyes were bright. He loved to tell stories, and the tales he told are my brightest memories of the Land of the Rising Sun. Oiiisan told many stories, but the favorites were