10
Eminent Authors of Japan
aunt; but, as for Kaku-chan, I am certain it was not the enchantment of a fox that caused him to be so strange, for he was only slightly mad. If we thought of him kindly, he might perhaps find his resurrection.
- Mother.—No, I don’t believe, Osayo, that he was any ordinary madman. People say that at midnight he was often seen walking with a fox that had pure white fur, near this hot-spring of Byakko.
- Osayo.—Mamma, I tell you that you are too easily led to believe all you hear, and it amuses people to tell you these strange and imaginative stories. You know, they are not necessarily true.
- Mother.—But I can’t find any reason for their telling me things which are untrue. Do you know, I was even told that the night before last, a gentleman from the Chitoseya saw him, and again the night before that he was seen by Oroku-san, and also by the servants of this very bath-house.
- Osayo.—Oh, they are all nervous!
- Mother.—Even if they are, there must be some truth in what they say, because they all have seen the man. I tell you, the man I spoke of saw him, and the night before that he was seen by others too.
- Osayo.—Then, if someone saw him, Kaku-chan is still alive!—But why didn’t these people stop him, and bring him home?
- Mother.—Even though you would like them to do so, Osayo, no person would ever venture down to the bottom of this gully at midnight. After the sun
