Page:A History of Japanese Literature (Aston).djvu/123

Rh not the gentle warmth of noon persuade us to allow the embers of the hearth or of the brazier to become a white heap of ashes!"

"What a pity it is to make a priest of a child whom one loves! How painful it must be to have to regard as so many bits of stick the things which are in life the most desirable! Priests have to go to bed after a meal of wretched fasting diet, and are blamed if, when young, they so much as take a sly peep into places where there are attractive girls. The life of an exorcist priest is particularly hard. What dreadful experiences he must have on his pilgrimages to Mitake, Kumano, and all the other sacred monasteries! Even after he has gained a fame for unction and is sent for on all occasions, his very reputation is a bar to his repose. What a labour it must be to drive out the evil spirit from the sick man he is in attendance on! And yet if he dozes a little out of sheer exhaustion, he is promptly reprimanded, and told that he does nothing but sleep. How embarrassed he must feel!"

The exorcist is much sympathised with by the author. In another place she says—

"When the exorcist is summoned to drive out an evil spirit, he puts on a consequential air as he distributes his maces and bells to those who are present. Then he drones out his chant in tones like the note of the cicada. But suppose that the demon is not a whit disturbed, and that the spells are of no avail? The whole household, who had joined in the prayers, begin to wonder. Still he goes on hour after hour till he is utterly weary. At last he sees that it is useless, so he lets them get up and takes