Page:Tales from old Japanese dramas (1915).djvu/222

 II the village of Ubara, in the province of Settsu, lived an old woman named Hayashi. She was formerly the wife of a certain Taira samurai. After her husband had run away, and his whereabouts become unknown, she entered the service of the poet Shunzei, and became nurse to his daughter Kikuno-Mayé. When her charge grew to be a young woman, Hayashi left her position and retired to her village. There she was now leading a lonely life.

One evening, a belated traveller knocked at her door and asked her to give him shelter for the night. She granted his request, and both were pleasantly surprised to find that they were old friends. He proved to be none other than Tairano-Tadanori on his way back to Ichi-no-tani from calling on his master Lord Shunzei. Hayashi welcomed him heartily, and they chatted about what had happened to them since they had last met.

"Well," she said with sighs, "I have heard of 162