“Well, Danna-sama, two men, Sasada-otoko and Sasabe-otoko fell in love with her both at once.”
“I see.”
“Shall she accept the hand of the Sasada man or should give her heart to the Sasabe man? She tormented herself for days, weeks, and months, with the perplexing problem, until unable to allow herself the choice of one in preference to the other, she ended her life by throwing herself into a river, leaving behind her an ode:
“Akizukeba Obanaga Uyeni
Okutsuyuno
Kenubekumo Wawa
Omohoyurukana.”[(m)]
I had little expected to hear such a quaint romance told in such old-fashioned language, least of all from such an old woman in the depth of a mountain like this.
“You go down about 600 yards East from here Danna-sama and you will come upon the ‘five elements’ spiral tombstone on the roadside, that marks the eternal home of Nagarano Otome. You should pay a visit to the grave, on your way to Nakoi.”
I resolved by all means to see the grave. The Bahsan went on to tell me: