In the drug-shops there was a drug which was in constant demand,
because after using it for a hundred years, it was supposed to turn
the hair slightly gray and to bring about disorders of the stomach.
Sentaro was astonished to find that the poisonous globe-fish was
served up in restaurants as a delectable dish, and hawkers in the
streets went about selling sauces made of Spanish flies. He never saw
anyone ill after eating these horrible things, nor did he ever see
anyone with as much as a cold.
Sentaro was delighted. He said to himself that he would never grow
tired of living, and that he considered it profane to wish for death.
He was the only happy man on the island. For his part he wished
to live thousands of years and to enjoy life. He set himself up in
business, and for the present never even dreamed of going back to his
native land.
As years went by, however, things did not go as smoothly as at first.
He had heavy losses in business, and several times some affairs went
wrong with his neighbors. This caused him great annoyance.
Time passed like the flight of an arrow for him, for he was busy from
morning till night. Three hundred years went by in this monotonous
way, and then at last he began to grow tired of life in this country,
and he longed to see his own land and his old home.
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