"That is not bad luck," said O-Yoshi. "It is only a sign that the august gods have been guarding you. There has been sickness in the village; and you caught the fever, but you got well. The holy charm shielded you: that is why it was broken. Tell the kannushi to-day: he will give you another."
Because they were very unhappy, and had never done harm to anybody, they began to reason about the justice of the universe.
Tarō said: "Perhaps in the former life we hated each other. Perhaps I was unkind to you, or you to me. And this is our punishment. The priests say so."
O-Yoshi made answer with something of her old playfulness: "I was a man then, and you were a woman. I loved you very, very much; but you were very unkind to me. I remember it all quite well."
"You are not a Bosatsu," returned Taro, smiling despite his sorrow; "so you cannot remember anything. It is only in the first of the ten states of Bosatsu that we begin to remember."
"How do you know I am not a Bosatsu?"
"You are a woman. A woman cannot be a Bosatsu."
"But is not Kwan-ze-on Bosatsu a woman?"
"Well, that is true. But a Bosatsu cannot love anything except the kyō."
"Did not Shaka have a wife and a son? Did he not love them?"