A Pair of Phoenix
A clever woman named Saijosen was engaged in embroidery. One day an old man called upon her, and said: "Work for me on a piece of cloth a pair of phoenix." Saijosen readily complied, and when the birds were worked the old man closed his eyes and pointed at the phoenix with his finger. Immediately the birds became alive, and the girl and the old man mounted upon their backs and disappeared into the sky.
Insects
Much has been written about the Japanese semi, or tree-crickets, and it seems strange to us that these little creatures should be bought and placed in minute cages, where they sing with extraordinary sweetness. Lafcadio Hearn in Kottō gives us a pathetic story concerning one of these insects. He tells us that his servant forgot to feed it, and that gradually it ceased to sing, being forced at last to eat its own minute limbs.
The minminzemi's singing resembles the chanting of a Buddhist priest, while the green semi, or higurashi, makes a sound like the trilling of a tiny bell. The carrying of a dried beetle is said to increase one's wardrobe. It must be remembered in the legends that follow that according to Buddhist teaching all life is sacred, and, moreover, that on account of some sin the Buddhists believe that the soul of a man or woman can enter even the minute form of an insect.
Dragon-flies
"The gold sun shimmering in noontide skies
Shines down, where the red-burnished dragon-flies
Flit to and fro in the translucent haze
Over the village of eventless days!"
Trans. by Clara A. Walsh.
The dragon-fly is frequently mentioned in Japanese poetry, but nowhere more pathetically than in the following lines written by Chiyo after the death of her little son:
"How far, I wonder, did he stray,
Chasing the burnished dragon-fly to-day?"