Page:Eminent Authors of Contemporary Japan.pdf/21

Rh marriageable age, you can easily find a good and ideal husband.
 * Osayo.—Why, Mamma, I never think about such things!
 * Mother.—Then, why worry so much over Kaku-chan? You had better come home with me now. If such a thing had happened to you I would never know how to answer to our good Buddha; I’ve given up thinking about Kaku-chan long ago!
 * Osayo.—But, Kaku-chan is your nephew.
 * Mother.—No, I don’t like to think that a man who is enchanted by a fox can possibly be a nephew of mine. All his family, and even his ancestors were enchanted in this way. Why, it was that fox’s trick which caused the deaths of his brother and sister!
 * Osayo.—But our school-mistress declares that nowadays fox enchantments do not exist at all.
 * Mother.—If your teacher argues such a thing, why can’t we find some logical cause for his disappearance? In Kaku’s childhood this strange enchantment showed itself; but afterwards, when he had secured a good position, he returned home again with the brains and manner of a madman. After that I was obliged to look after him in my home. He never did a stroke of work, and would only wander about the mountains all day long. When his mother became mad, she did just the same thing.
 * Osayo.—Oh, dear! I did not know this about my