A cook had finished working in his employer's kitchen and left for home late in the evening after the household had retired. At the gate he met a haughty, frightening gentleman in a red cloak and formal headdress. The cook had no idea who the gentleman was, but since there was no doubting his quality he knelt and bowed.
"Do you know who I am?" the gentleman asked.
"No, sir."
"I used to be a major counselor named Ban no Yoshio, and I died in exile in Iyo province. Then I became a spirit of pestilence and disease. I'd committed a serious offense against His Majesty, you see, and I was quite justly punished. But I owe my country a great deal for the favor I enjoyed while I still served at court, and when it turned out that this year there was to be a wave of sickness which would kill everyone, I petitioned to have the epidemic commuted instead to coughing. That's why everyone is down with a cough. I was waiting here because I wanted to let people know. Don't be afraid." When he had spoken, he vanished.
The cook fearfully continued on his way and told others what he had seen and heard. That was how people found out that Ban no Yoshio was now a spirit of pesitilence.
But why did Ban choose that cook to talk to? He could have chosen anyone else. Well, no doubt he had his reasons.