Page:Eminent Authors of Contemporary Japan.pdf/37

Rh.
 * The Fox.—Yes, I remember well. I gave you chocolates, I always thought you were a very smart messenger-boy. I never forgot you, you see. (The fox sits down on a rock.) Why do you stand there? Come and sit here near me!
 * Kakutaro.—Oh, thank you, it is very kind of you. (He takes a seat near her, with great delight.)
 * The Fox.—Kakutaro-san, why are you here?
 * Kakutaro.—Oh, I will tell you about myself. I once was employed there, but unfortunately it was reputed that I was mad. It was untrue … but I had to leave, and retrunedreturned [sic] again to this part of the country, which is my native place.
 * The Fox.—Do your father and mother live here?
 * Kakutaro.—No. Both of them are dead, so I was compelled to live with my aunt.
 * The Fox.—I see. So you stay here with your aunt, do you?
 * Kakutaro.—No, not now. I’ve already fled from her house, for I hate her very much … she treats me very badly, and is always scolding me.
 * The Fox.—Then, where are you staying now?
 * Kakutaro.—I have no home at all. By day, I always hide myself in the woods and on the mountains, and at night I awaysalways [sic] come down here to this valley … Rosa-san, I know that you visit this bath every night, and so every evening I come here and peep at you from this spot.
 * The Fox.—What! Have you been here every night?