At this the lady cast herself down upon the white mats in a passion of bitter tears, and Konojo, poor unfortunate, pressed his hands together, quite beside himself.
“What to do?” he said; “what to do?”
At last he raised the lady in his arms, and stroked her little hand to comfort her.
“Lord,” she said, as simply as a child, “lord, do you love me?”
And he answered her in a moment, “I love you more than many lives, O Lady of the South Wind.”
“Lord,” she said, “will you come with me then?”
He answered her, “Even to the land of Yomi,” and took her hand.
Forth they went into the night, and they took the road together. By river-side they went, and over plains of flowers; they went by rocky ways, or through the whispering pines, and when they had wandered far enough, of the green bamboos they built them a little house to dwell in. And they were there for a year of happy days and nights.
Now upon a morning of the third month Konojo beheld men with kago come swinging through the bamboo grove. And he said:
“What have they to do with us, these men and their kago?”