Is that so?

The Zen master Hakuin was praised by his neighbors as one living a pure life.A beautiful girl whose parents owned a food store lived near him. Suddenly, without any warning,  her  parents  discovered  she  was with child.This made her parents angry. She would not confess  who  the  man  was,  but  after  much harassment at last named Hakuin.In   great  anger  the  parents  went  to  the master. “Is that so?” was all he would say. After  the  child  was  born  it  was  brought  to Hakuin.   By   this   time   he   had   lost   his reputation,  which  did  not  trouble  him,  but he took very good care of the child.He  obtained  milk  from  his  neighbors  and everything else the little one needed.  year later the girl-mother could stand it no longer. She told her parents the truth that the real  father  of  the  child  was  a  young  man who worked in the fishmarket.The  mother  and  father  of  the  girl  at  once went  to  Hakuin  to  ask  his  forgiveness,  to apologize at length, and to get the child back again.Hakuin  was  willing.  In  yielding  the  child, all he said was, “Is that so?”