Conversation started Dec 21, 2011 at 14:05.
Kitḫ
Kitḫ
Dec 21, 2011 14:05
Anyway, so about these swords....
A man's car breaks down along the road somewhere out in the Midwest.
This was before cell phones and whatnot, so he walks the short distance to the nearest farmhouse.
There's no service station open by now, so the farmer offers to put him up for the night.
They have dinner together and friendly conversation and as the hours grow late, they start talking about their families and the war and such.
The farmer relates how his father was on a boat in the Pacific, and it was his job at the end of the war to take the Japanese soldiers' samurai swords and throw them into the sea.
There was a great big pile of them, and so the farmer's father decided that a single pair of blades wouldn't be missed and would be a good keepsake.
He picked his favorite set and brought them home.
The man's interest was piqued. "I deal in antiques, particularly swords. Do you still have them? May I see them?"
The farmer went and got the swords from the barn. They hadn't been displayed, but they had been kept well.
The man looked them over, growing more and more excited.
"I must make a phone call," he says.
The next morning, a helicopter lands in the farmer's field.
A young Japanese man gets out of the helicopter, and the farmer, surprised, welcomes him into his home.
The man shows him the blades.
The Japanese man looks at them for a long time.
Then he says to the farmer, "These swords belonged to my grandfather. I will pay any price to have them back."
The farmer responds without hesitation, "If they are your swords, then take them. They aren't mine to sell."
The Japanese man smiles. "Thank you for returning these to me. You have kept them well and you have acted honorably. I will make you a member of my family. You are now a son of house Mitsubishi."
The Mitsubishi family paid off the mortgage on the man's farm, and every year after that, the farmer went and visited with them in Japan.
The end.
 
Conversation ended Dec 21, 2011 at 14:19.