On Tsuchimikado Avenue, which is in Kyoto, there once lived one of the greatest yin-yang diviners of all time. His name was Seimei, and people were always coming to him for advice, or asking to become his students.

One day, an old monk appeared at Seimei's door, accompanied by a pair of ten-year-old boys.

"I am from Harima province," the old man said. "Word of your reputation has reached me. I wish to learn divination, and I want you to be my teacher."

Seimei was suspicious of this story. He suspected that the old monk was already skilled in the arts of divination, and had come to test Seimei's own skill. Seimei also suspected that the two young boys were in fact genies.

So Seimei prayed, asking that the genies--if genies they were--disappear. He cast a spell and made some subtle hand gestures, which the old monk did not seem to notice.

"Today is not a good day," Seimei told the old monk. "But if you come back at a more auspicious time, I promise that I will teach you whatever you ask."

"My thanks," the old man said, bowing before he left.

Before he reached the gate, he noticed that the boys were missing. After poking around for several moments behind trees and carriages, he turned and approached Seimei again. "If it would not be too much trouble, would you mind returning my boys?"

Seimei feigned ignorance. "Whatever would I want with your boys?"

"That is only fair," the old man said. "I am sorry that you feel insulted. That was not my intention."

"Then I shall not hold it against you. But please, in the future go elsewhere if you wish to test someone's skill or perception. You shant fool me with such a trick." Seimei quietly cast another spell, and the two boys returned to their master.

"It was indeed a test, and not a trick," the old monk said. "It's easy enough to keep genies--you can see that even I manage to do so. But to make someone else's genies disappear? That is something that I could not do. I think that your reputation is deserved, and I wish to become your disciple."

Seimei smiled. "I think you shall make a marvelous student."

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