Page:Insect Literature by Lafcadio Hearn.djvu/326

Rh Tsuku-tsuku-uisu,

Tsuku-tsuku-uisu,

Tsuku-tsuku-uisu:—

Chi-i yara!

Chi-i yara!

Chi-i yara!

Chi-i, chi, chi, chi, chi, chiii.

But some say that the sound is Tsukushi-koishi. There is a legend that in old times a man of Tsukushi (the ancient name of Kyūshū) fell sick and died while far away from home, and that the ghost of him became an autumn cicada, which cries unceasingly, Tsukushi-koishi!—Tsukushi-koishi! ("I long for Tsukushi!—I want to see Tsukushi!")

It is a curious fact that the earlier semi have the harshest and simplest notes. The musical semi do not appear until summer; and the tsuku-tsuku-bōshi, having the most complex and melodious utterance of all, is one of the latest to mature.

The tsurigane-semi is an autumn cicada. The word tsurigane means a suspended bell,—especially 註