A Hook for the Giant Turtle

A broad river lies ahead and someone wants to get across, but the water is deep and too much for now. The last word of the second line is uncertain, and we read it in the plainest way as having no match. Farther on, at a landing place, the waves lie flat. There the person sets to work again on a hook large enough for a giant sea turtle.

The grade printed in the book is Kichi, Good fortune, though a note shows that another edition has Sue-kichi, Good fortune later, so printings differ. The turn at the ford fits a good grade, with a crossing that looked impossible giving way to calm water and a very large ambition.

Brought into the present, the hook might be the big plan that was put away when conditions were rough. What would count, for you, as the calm stretch in which to take it out and repair it?