“Bad weather, Danna-sama, you must have had a hard time of it. Why you are drenching wet. Wait, I will make a big fire and let you dry yourself.”
“Thank you. Put just a little more wood there, and I shall warm and dry myself. The rest has made me feel cold.”
We kept on talking about the quietness of the place, the uguisu,[(5)] and so on. Out came my sketch book, and I made a hasty picture of the old woman, as she worked at the fire. The rain had stopped, and the sky cleared up. I saw the “Hobgoblin Cliff” by turning my eyes in the direction towards which my good woman pointed. I glanced at the cliff and then at the woman, and last of all I looked at them both half and half. Of the impressions of old women carved permanently in my head, there were that of the face of the Takasago dame of the “Noh” mask, and that of the she-spirit of the mountain drawn by Rosetsu. The Rosetsu picture has made me think that an ideal old woman is a weird creature and that she should be seen only among autumn tinted trees or else in cold moonlight. But on seeing the mask of the Takasago dame I was astonished at the extent to which the aged of the other sex could be made to look so sweet. I have since thought she could, with her warm and graceful expression, ornament a golden screen, be a figure in a balmy Spring breeze or that she could go well, even with cherry blossoms. As I looked at my homely dressed hostess of motherly kindness, with a beaming light on her face, I fancied she made a picture better in keeping with the Spring scenery of the mountain, than with the “Hobgoblin Cliff,” she was pointing at, with one hand shading her eyes. I had almost finished sketching her when her pose broke. It was disconcerting, and with chagrin I held my book to the fire to dry.
“You look hale and hearty, O-Bahsan.”[(6)]
“Yes, thank you, Danna-sama. I can sew; I can spin hemp.”
She added triumphantly, “I can grind rice for dumpling flour!” I felt I would like to see her work at the mill stones. However such a request was out of place, and I changed the topic of conversation by asking her if it was not more than two and a half miles to Nakoi.
“No, Danna-sama, about two miles they say. You are going to the hot spring there, then?”
“I may stop there a while, if the place is not crowded. Or rather I should say if I am in the mood.”
“No crowding, I am sure, Danna-sama. The place has been almost deserted since the war (Russo-Japanese) broke out. The spa hostelry is all but closed.”
“Well, well. They won’t let me stop there then.”