Algy was on his way home, and the weather was deteriorating fast. Dense Scotch mist was sweeping across the moors, and nothing escaped the drenching of its persistent wetness. Algy sought temporary shelter under a rocky bluff, and thought of a haiku by the Japanese master Basho:

          I’m a wanderer
          so let that be my name –
          the first winter rain

[Algy is quoting Sam Hamill’s translation of a classic haiku by Basho.]

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