Overjoyed, Samon invited Soemon in and offered him wine and food. But Soemon covered his face with his sleeve as if to avoid it, and said nothing. At last he spoke, slowly and heavily.
"When I returned to Izumo, everyone in the province had submitted to the power of the new lord, Amago Tsunehisa. My cousin Akana Tanji served Tsunehisa at Toda Castle, so I went to see him, and Tanji presented me to Tsunehisa. Tsunehisa wanted to make me his retainer, but I saw that, brave as he was, he lacked wisdom, was suspicious and did not trust his men, so I had no wish to serve him.
"Tsunehisa grew suspicious that I would not open my heart to him and ordered Tanji to lock me up inside the castle. Today, the ninth day of the ninth month, the day of my promise to you, came, but I could not get out of the castle.
"An old saying goes, 'A man cannot travel a thousand leagues in a day, but a soul can travel a thousand leagues in a day.' Remembering these words, I fell on my sword and took my own life, and tonight, as a spirit, I have come all this way riding the dark wind. Take pity on my heart."
When he had finished speaking, Soemon vanished. Samon fell to the ground, crying aloud.
Samon took leave of his old mother and set out for Izumo. Reaching the town below Toda Castle, he went to Akana Tanji's house and said, "You betrayed your cousin Soemon. You have forgotten a samurai's loyalty." No sooner had he spoken than he drew his sword, cut Tanji down, and disappeared.
Hearing of this, Amago Tsunehisa was moved by the depth of the brothers' loyalty and, it is said, did not send men after Samon. Ah, never form ties with the fickle.