He went toward the light, and before long he found himself near an old ruined temple. Within a fire was burning, and the temple was full of demon cats. They were leaping and whirling and dancing around the fire, and as they danced they sang. The song had words and they sang them over and over again, always the same thing.
At first the lad could not make out what the words were, but after he had listened carefully for a while he understood; and this was what they sang:
“To-night we dance, to-night we sing;
To-morrow the maiden they will bring.”
They would sing this over and over and over, and then suddenly they would cease their bounding and whirling, and would stand still and all cry together,—
“But Schippeitaro must not know!
But Schippeitaro must not know!”
The lad stayed there for a long time watching them, and the longer he watched, the more he wondered.
After a while the fire burned low, they bounded less wildly, and their songs were still. Then the fire died out, and soon afterward the lad fell into a deep sleep.
When he awoke the next morning, he was both cold and stiff, and as he rubbed his eyes and looked about him, he thought that all he had seen the night before must have been only a dream, for the temple lay silent and deserted, and there were no signs of the demon cats or their revels, except a heap of burned-out ashes on the temple floor.
The lad arose from where he lay and went on his way wondering. Not long after he came to the edge of the forest and saw before him a village. He entered the village and looked about him, and everything was in mourning and all the people seemed very sad. In front of one of the principal houses a great crowd had gathered, and from within came a sound of weeping and lamenting.
The lad joined the crowd, and looked in through the door of the house. There he saw a maiden dressed as though for a festival, but she was very pale, and tears were running down her face; an old man and an old woman, who seemed to be her father and mother, sat one each side of her, holding her hands, and they also were weeping, with the tears running down their wrinkled faces. Two men were busy over a great chest bound around with iron, and with iron hasps, and every time the old man and woman looked at the chest, they shuddered and wept more bitterly than ever.