Green willow and other Japanese fairy tales . Stone burst and split insunder. From the stone and from the fire therecame a woman. She stood before the Holy Man. She said : I am Tamamo, once called the Proud Perfection ;I am the golden-haired Fox ;I know the Sorceries of the East;I was worshipped by the Princes of Ind;I was great Cathays undoing ;I was wise and beautiful,Evil power of the Buddha has changed me ; 221 TAMAMO, THE FOX MAIDEN xxvm I have dwelt in grief for a hundred years ;Tears have washed away my beauty and my me, Genyo, shrive me, Holy Man ;Let me have p
Green willow and other Japanese fairy tales . Stone burst and split insunder. From the stone and from the fire therecame a woman. She stood before the Holy Man. She said : I am Tamamo, once called the Proud Perfection ;I am the golden-haired Fox ;I know the Sorceries of the East;I was worshipped by the Princes of Ind;I was great Cathays undoing ;I was wise and beautiful,Evil power of the Buddha has changed me ; 221 TAMAMO, THE FOX MAIDEN xxvm I have dwelt in grief for a hundred years ;Tears have washed away my beauty and my me, Genyo, shrive me, Holy Man ;Let me have peace. Poor Spirit, said Genyo. Take my staffand my priestly robe and my begging bowl and setforth upon the long journey of repentance. Tamamo took the priestly robe and put it uponher; in one hand she took the staff, in the other thebowl. And when she had done this, she vanishedfor ever from the sight of earthly men. O thou, Tathagatha, said Genyo, andthou, Kwannon, Merciful Lady, make it possiblethat one day even she may attain Nirvana. 222. MOMOTARO t ace page 223 XXIX MOMOTARO If youll believe me there was a time when thefairies were none so shy as they are now. Thatwas the time when beasts talked to men, whenthere were spells and enchantments and magicevery day, when there was great store of hiddentreasure to be dug up, and adventures for theasking. At that time, you must know, an old man andan old woman lived alone by themselves. Theywere good and they were poor and they had nochildren at all. One fine day, What are you doing thismorning, good man ? says the old woman. Oh, says the old man, Im off to themountains with my billhook to gather a faggot ofsticks for our fire. And what are you doing, goodwife? Oh, says the old woman, Im off to thestream to wash clothes. Its my washing day,she adds. So the old man went to the mountains and theold woman went to the stream. 223 MOMOTARO xxix Now, while she was washing the clothes, whatshould she see but a fine ripe peach that camef
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