[1] Chapter VII.: "Legend in Japanese Art."
[2] Things Japanese, by Professor B. H. Chamberlain.
[CHAPTER XVIII: THE PEONY LANTERN][1]
"Morning-Dew"
Tsuyu ("Morning Dew") was the only daughter of Iijima. When her father married again she found she could not live happily with her stepmother, and a separate house was built for her, where she lived with her servant-maid Yoné.
One day Tsuyu received a visit from the family physician, Yamamoto Shijō accompanied by a handsome young samurai named Hagiwara Shinzaburō. These young people fell in love with each other, and at parting Tsuyu whispered to Shinzaburō: "Remember! if you do not come to see me again I shall certainly die!"
Shinzaburō had every intention of seeing the fair Tsuyu as frequently as possible. Etiquette, however, would not allow him to visit her alone, so that he was compelled to rely on the old doctor's promise to take him to the villa where his loved one lived. The old doctor, however, having seen more than the young people had supposed, purposely refrained from keeping his promise.