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Updated: May 17, 2025
He said, "The honorable worshippers will be disturbed. We must go out at once." They hurried back to the entrance and found their clogs, and the moment they were outdoors again, in the sweet, fresh air, Bot'Chan cuddled down on his Mother's back and went to sleep without another sound. Near the Temple they found an orchard of cherry trees in full bloom.
In one street carpenters were putting up a new house, and once they caught a glimpse of the very bridge that leads to the Emperor's palace. By and by they reached the gate of the Temple grounds. All the rickshaws stopped here, and everybody got out. The Mother put Bot'Chan on her back, and they all started in a procession for the Temple. First walked the Father, looking very proud.
The priest said a prayer to Kwannon, and blessed the Baby. Then the Father threw incense rings on the little fire that burned in the brazier before the altar. Wreaths of smoke began to curl about their heads. The air was filled with the sweet odor of it. Some of it went up Bot'Chan's nose. It smarted. Bot'Chan didn't like it.
There were toys, and rice, and candied peas and beans, and little cakes, and silk for dresses for him, and more silk for more dresses, and best of all a beautiful puppy cat. Bot'Chan seemed to like his party. He sucked his thumb and looked solemnly at the aunts and cousins. He even tried to put the puppy cat in his mouth. Natsu took him away at last and put him to bed.
The room was full of their aunts and cousins! Taro and Take were very much surprised, but they remembered their manners. They dropped on their knees and bowed their heads to the floor. "Where are your Father and Mother, and Grannie and Bot'Chan?" said all the aunts and cousins. "They are late." "We came back by the boat, and it stopped at ever so many places," said Taro. "That's why we are late."
The Mother had carried Bot'Chan all the way on her back, so maybe she was a little tired. Anyway, she said to the Father: "If you and the Twins want to go farther, let Grannie and me stay here and rest. You can come back for us." "Would you like to see the animals?" the Father asked the Twins.
"Now, tell us about the 'Lucky Tea-Kettle," begged Take. Their Mother began: "Once upon a time " But just as she got as far as that they heard a little sound from Bot'Chan's cushion in the corner, and the covers began to wiggle. "There's Bot'Chan awake," said the Mother. "I must take care of him now. The 'Lucky Tea-Kettle' must wait until another time."
"Daughter," she said, "a little nap would make our baby wide awake and happy when we start for the Temple. Would you like to put him to sleep?" Take loved to put Bot'Chan to sleep better than anything else in the world. She took him in her arms and hugged him close. Then she swayed back and forth, and sang this little song: "How big and beautiful Sir Baby Boy is growing.
Besides, do you remember what is going to happen to-day? We are going to take Bot'Chan to the Temple!" A temple is something like a church, only they do not do the same things in temples that we do in our churches. The Twins loved to go to the Temple, because they had a very good time when they went there. They liked it as much as you like Thanksgiving Day and the Fourth of July.
"I'm just as old as Taro," said little Take, "and I think I know just as much. Why can't he mind me some of the time? I think it would be fair to take turns!" "But Taro is a boy," said her Father. "That makes all the difference in the world. Japanese girls must always mind their brothers!" "Must I mind Bot'Chan, too?" asked Take. "Yes, Bot'Chan, too."
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