■ あらすじ　
　昔、京の町に物静かで空想好きな六郎と、利発で快活な八郎という
仲の良い双子の兄弟が住んでいた。ある日、六郎は古書市へ出かけ、日も暮れた頃帰り道で嵐に遭い雨宿りに寺を見つけ入った。老僧と
話しているうち夜も更け、突然辺りが騒がしくなると老僧の馴染みの者たちだという客があった。彼らは鼻のない者、耳のない者、口のない者など恐ろしい風貌をしており、一人は怪しい術で六郎を怯えさせたが、六郎を心配し八郎が探しにやって来たことを察知すると老僧を先頭に去っていった。翌朝、寺の庭で鼻や耳、腕などが欠けた仏像を見つけ、二人は前夜の者たちの正体を推測し合った。

■ Outline of this story
　Long ago in Kyoto, there lived twin brothers Rokuro and Hachiro. Rokuro was subdued and liked to daydream while Hachiro was smart and cheerful, and the two got along very well together. One day, Rokuro went to a secondhand book fair. When it grew late, he started for home, but ran into a thunderstorm on the way and decided to take refuge in a temple. The night deepened as he talked with the old monk there, when suddenly there was a commotion outside and the monk's old friends had come. The members of the compny looked frightening. One was missing a nose; another had lost his ears; yet others had no mouth. One of them terrified Rokuro with mysterious magic. But when Hachiro, who had grown worried about his brother, came looking for Rokuro, the group sensed his arrival and marched out of the temple with the old monk at their head. The next morning, the two supposed the true identity of the crowd when they found Buddhist statues with missing noses, ears, and arms in the temple garden.

Note
　A source in Japanese cannot be found for this story, which is thought to have been translated from the creation by Mrs. T.H. James into German. The story incorporates features of Japanese life and customs, such as the large handkerchief used to wrap old books and the scene where the old monk gives Rokuro some water to wash his feet with.