Once upon a time, there was a little monk named Ikkyu.
One day, the head monk returned from a temple in the neighboring village with a long face.
As soon as the head monk saw Ikkyu, who was sweeping the garden, he said,
"Oh,Ikkyu. Listen.
I made a senseless promise with the monk in the nearby village.
I really need your help since you are very smart."
"All right, Master. If i could be of some help."
"I appreciate it.
To tell you the truth,
while talking with the monk in the nearby village, your story came up.
I said,
'Ikkyu is so wise, he knows a lot of things, and he can do anything.'
Then the monk said,
'If it is true, I'll have Ikkyu, the wise boy, to draw the longest letter in Japan.'
So I said,
'It's a piece of cake for Ikkyu!' and accepted the challenge.
.......Ikkyu, can you do that?"
Hearing this, Ikkyu scratched his head and said,
"Well....I have no choice but to do it.
I'll come up with the longest letter in Japan by tomorrow morning."
The next morning, Ikkyu went to the head monk and said with a smile,
"Master, I will draw the longest letter in Japan,
so will you send someone to the nearby village
and have him lay a long piece of paper from that temple to our temple?
Also, I need a writing brush made of a bamboo broom, and a washtub full of indian ink.
Will you prepare them for me?"
"So you can do it, can't you? Thank you! I'll do as you said!"
When everything was ready for Ikkyu to draw the longest letter in Japan,
Ikkyu went to the nearby village.
The head monk there said to Ikkyu,
"Oh, boy. How dare you demand such a great amount of paper!
Well, try and do it if you could!
However, if you fail, you have to pay for all the paper!"
"Don't worry. Now, please follow me."
Ikkyu soaked the thick writing brush of a bamboo broom in indian ink,
and started drawing a straight line on the paper.
Ikkyu ran and ran,
drawing the very long straight line toward the temple of Ikkyu.
When he reached the temple, he stopped.
The head monk of the nearby village said very angrily to Ikkyu,
"What is this? This is just a line!
It cannot be called a letter! Now, please pay for all the paper you wasted!"
Then, Ikkyu smiled, flipping the end of the straight line to right and said,
"Well, I have finished drawing the longest letter in Japan."
"A letter? How can it be .....Oh, boy!"
"Yes, this is one of the hiragana letters, 'し'. "
This is how Ikkyu splendidly draw the longest letter in Japan,
and his wit became more and more famous.