Now it is long ago. There was a man called General Toshihito. When young, he served the regent's house of the day. At that house, after the great New Year banquet, the servants were eating the leftover yam gruel, and among them was a samurai of the fifth rank who had served there for many years. Sipping the gruel, he murmured, "Ah, I'd like someday to eat my fill of yam gruel."
Hearing this, Toshihito said, "Then I'll treat you till you've had enough," and some days later he put the fifth-rank man on a horse and took him out. He thought they were going to Higashiyama, but they passed Yamashina, crossed the Osaka barrier hills, and even at Miidera did not stop. When he asked, "Where are we going?" the answer was, "Tsuruga." He was astonished, but he could not now go back alone.
On the way, by Lake Biwa, Toshihito caught a fox and ordered it, "Go to my house in Tsuruga tonight and tell them to come meet us around Takashima tomorrow at the hour of the snake," and let it go. The next day, people really did come to meet them, and said, "Last night a fox possessed the lady of the house and said just that."
At Toshihito's house in Tsuruga, during the night, wild yams three or four inches long and some three inches thick were piled as high as the eaves. Many great cauldrons were set up and the gruel was boiled with sweet arrowroot syrup. In the morning, a silver vessel holding a whole to of gruel was brought, but the fifth-rank man was full just from looking at it and could not finish a single bowl. When he said, "That's quite enough," everyone roared with laughter.
He stayed about a month and returned to the capital with many gifts. It is told that such things can happen to one who has served long and is respected. Akutagawa Ryunosuke based his story "Yam Gruel" on this tale.