Narrator: Would you like to hear a story? Just sit back, relax, and get ready to listen, because it's Story Time at the Met.
Long ago in Japan, the greatest warriors were called samurai. When a samuraiput on his splendid armor, sometimes he covered his face with an armored facemask. The mask protected his face and made him look very fierce.
Many samurai masks had hideous faces that looked like evil spirits called tengu. These demons were the masters of war and weapons. Tengu tricked men into making war. They had magic powers, like flying or changing shape, and some had long noses they could grow to any length they wished.
Once, two tengu sat on a mountaintop, bragging about their noses. The first tengu said, “I can smell anything in the world with my nose. Right now, I smell incense down in the valley.”
