dear ones far away. On the peak of this mountain stands a stone of the same height and similar in appearance to a man, about which pebbles lay and are heaped up. A nearby Shinto sanctuary is dedicated to the spirit of a princess, who looked out from the mountain after her distant beloved one until she was consumed by sorrow and turned into stone. In going away one prays and takes one of the piled up pebbles along. If the beloved one returns the stone must be taken back and offered as a gift of thanks and in remembrance, with a number of other pebbles.
O-Toyo's husband died while away and shortly afterwards the little son died too. All this only came to her consciousness in sudden flashes. Between these flashes of knowledge reigned that deep darkness which the gods in their pity have given to man.
Now comes the fulfilling wish structure. As the darkness begins to recede and O-Toyo is left alone with her memories she orders small playthings, spreads out children's garments on the grass, fondles and chats with smiles that often, indeed, change to loud, convulsive sobs.
She has recourse to magic rites. The wise priest strikes, after a suggestive ceremonial, upon a curved instrument and repeats "Hitazo-jo!" "I have come." In calling he gradually changes his voice, until it takes on the sound of that of the wished-for deceased, whose spirit has now entered into him.
In this manner O-Toyo receives the following consoling knowledge: "O mother, cry no more on my account, it is not right to moan for the dead;[1] their mute way leads over a stream of tears, and when mothers cry, the flood rises so the soul can not get over but must wander restlessly here and there."
From this hour on she was no longer seen crying. But she will not marry again and has commenced to manifest a strange love for every thing little. Her bed, the house, the room, the flower vases, the cooking vessels are too large for her. She eats only out of tiny dishes with small, children's knives and forks, and spoons. She is permitted to do as she wishes for she has no other caprices.
Her parents, with whom she lived, were old and advised
- ↑ The same idea is at the bottom of the fairy tale of the "Little Tear Jug"; see following.
