In brief and pregnant sentences, producing the dead snake in proof of his argument, he pointed out the enormity of the offence against the laws of the Amasuka wherewith the prisoner was charged, demanding that the man who had killed the house of his ancestral spirit should instantly be put to death.
"What have you to say ?" asked the king of John.
"This, O King," replied John, "that I am a Christian, and to me that snake is nothing but a noxious reptile.

It bit my wife, and had it not been for the medicine of the Messenger, she would have perished of the poison.

Therefore I killed it before it could harm others." "It is a fair answer," said the king.

"Hokosa, I think that this man should go free." "The king's will is the law," replied Hokosa bitterly; "but if the law were the king's will, the decision would be otherwise.

This man has slain, not a snake, but that which held the spirit of an ancestor, and for the deed he deserves to die.