One of the early love-songs is found when the Deity-of-Eight-Thousand-Spears went forth to woo the Princess of Nuna-Kaha and sang on his arrival at her house as follows:
“His Augustness the Deity-of-Eight-Thousand-Spears,
With no Spouse in the Land of the Eight Isles,
Now has heard in the far-off Koshi Land there is a maiden wise,
Now has heard there is a maiden beauteous:
Here he stands to truly woo her.
Here he goes backward and forward to woo her,
Having untied even the cord of his sword,
Having untied even his veil,
He pushes back the plank door shut by the maiden;
He stands here, forward he pulls it:
Here he stands, he soon hears the Nuge singing on the green hill;
And the bird of the moor, the pheasant, resounds,
The bird of the yard, the cock, crows:
Oh, the pity that the birds should sing, oh, these birds!
Oh, how soon the night dawns!
Would that I could beat them to sickness and death!”
Then the Princess of Nuna-Kaha, without opening the door, sang from within:
“Thine Augustness the Deity-of-Eight-Thousand-Spears,
Being a maiden like a drooping plant,
My heart is just a bird on a bank by the shore;
My heart is now indeed a dotterel.
But it will soon become a gentle bird;
So as for thy life, do not deign to die.”
Again she sang in the following fashion:
“The sun may hide behind the green hills,
The night, the jewel-black night will come forth;
I will then welcome thee.
Smile like the glad morning sun and come;
