Page:Eminent Authors of Contemporary Japan.pdf/34

22 ''look. She peers through the window, then suddenly draws back terrified at the apparition she has seen. She utters a scream as she steps away.'') Oh!
 * Osayo.—(Pale and trembling, goes quickly past the cottage, as if to run away. As she does so, she half turns and cries to Kakutaro.) Oh! The … that… that is the Fox! It is the fox, Kaku-chan … I saw the fox!
 * Kakutaro.—Oh, she has finished washing and bathing now, and is drying her body with a towel. Rosa, Rosa, are you coming out in a minute? If you are, I shall meet you in front of the cottage.
 * Osayo.—Kakutaro, I tell you it is no human-being… it is a white fox! All that Mamma told me is true, absolutely true! I am going at once for the policeman. (After finishing these words, she rushes off in great fear, and, upon crossing the bridge, she disappears along the mountain-road on the right side.)
 * Kakutaro.—Now she has quite dried her body, and is beginning to dress. Her gown is made from white towelling. Both her body and her dress are white … she almost deceives me into thinking she is a snow-maiden…. Again she is crouching near the edge of the tank!… Oh, I can see her shadow reflected in the hot-spring water. It is not a clear reflection, but it is like some figure on the moon appearing through a pearly mist. Ah, I know it—did you forget to bring your mirror with you, Rosa? That is why you are bending over the water, so that you can see your beautiful body