He explained, "His Majesty feared that the vision of the Heavenly God eating the sun was an ominous phenomenon, so much so that he couldn't eat or sleep well. He feared that the heavens would send some disaster to the people of our country, so he decided to hire me to serve as the imperial monk to guard the nation."

"I can see why," Harper remarked to Chodak. "You are proficient in Buddhism and has great powers. With you in charge of such matters, our country will no doubt be prosperous and the people will be at peace."

For some reason, Chodak felt that Harper was being sarcastic. Her real meaning seemed to be that if a disaster really was going to take place, even ten Chodaks could do nothing about it, and so his real job was to restore the emperor's peace of mind.

Chodak decided to let it go, however. Magnanimity was essential to holiness, after all. "I'm flattered, Your Highness," he said kindly. "Are you ready to go do

t son sell umbrellas, because then he would've been able to make money on rainy days. And every time it was sunny, she blamed herself for not making her other son sell straw hats, so that he could also make money on sunny days. Thus, the woman spent her days blaming herself, until suddenly she fell ill and died."

Seeing the strange expression on Harper's face, Chodak nodded in satisfaction, knowing that she took his meaning. "One should always do their best and leave the rest to the God's will. Why stay entangled in troubling thoughts without end, allowing yourself no respite?"

"Thank you for enlightening me," Harper said softly. "I suppose I've been wasting my energy, going down dead ends. I've done everything I can do for now. As for what the result will be, it's not something I can decide. As long as I remain true to myself, I suppose there's no point in continuing to worry."

"You are very wise," Chodak said mildly.