THE LOVING WIFE.
URING the days of the Emperor Sen-ka Ten O (about A.D. 536 to 539) there was war between Japan and Corea. An expedition was sent to the provinces where fighting was going on, and with it went Sate Hiko, son of Otonomo Kanemura. The ships set out from Hizen, and the friends of the warriors ascended the hills to' see them as far on their voyage as possible. Sayo Hime, the wife of Sate Hiko, climbed higher than the rest, and when on the summit of Matzoura hill stood and prayed for her dear lord's safe and speedy return. Such was the intensity of her prayers and thoughts that she became petrified into a stony figure, and thus remains an enduring monument of what a true wife should be in her husband's absence—cold to all. Thus it is that the name of Sayo Hime is a household word in Japan for a faithful wife and devoted affection.
THE SPARROW'S WEDDING.
N the days of old, there lived in the forest at the back of an old shrine, not far from the pathway, a sparrow called Chiyo-suke. He had been for a long time looking about for a suitable wife for his eldest boy Chiyo-taro, being anxious that he should settle down and become more steady and industrious. As usual, he had formerly arranged with a neighbour a match between his daughter and Chiyo-taro, but the girl had died, and the boy was now, as his father thought, free. Such was not the case, however, because one day, when Chiyo-taro went to visit the shrine of his tutelary saint, he met the daughter of Suzu-yemon, and was so much charmed by her pretty face and modest ways that he fell in love with her directly, and, boy-like, suddenly decided that he would have her or none for his future wife. When he went home he took the first opportunity to confide his wish to his mother, and, as she had heard the story of Suzu-yemon, all about his being caught and his tongue cut by the cruel old woman, and also how kind and dutiful his daughter Osuzu always was to her friends,
