| PAGE | |
| Translator’s Note | [ vii] |
| Prologue | [ xi] |
| CHAPTER I | |
| The First Meeting | [ 1] |
| CHAPTER II | |
| Spring | [ 25] |
| CHAPTER III | |
| Summer | [ 65] |
| CHAPTER IV | |
| Autumn | [ 101] |
| CHAPTER V | |
| Winter | [ 141] |
| CHAPTER VI | |
| The Second Meeting | [ 169] |
PROLOGUE
Prologue
Lo, nowadays the earth is white or green, according as Winter rules or Spring. The thrush sings in the grove and the canary in his cage, the smoke rises from the house-top and the church-bell tolls for evensong. The monk walks in the meadow and the poet writes verse.
But once things were different.