CHAPTER VIII
THE SINGING INSECTS
Umé sat on the edge of the veranda, taking coins from a little silk bag and spreading them out before her.
"Ichi, ni, san, shi, go," she counted, up to fourteen. "Fourteen sen," she said. "If I had one more I could buy the kind of singing insect I like best."
"What is that?" asked Tara.
"It is a kirigirisu."
"What shall you buy, then?" asked Tara.
"I shall have to buy a suzumushi, and two other honorably cheap ones," Umé told him.
"Ask the august father for one more sen," Tara advised.