Mi wa koko ni;
  Tama wa otoko ni
    So[:i]n[’e] suru;—­
  Kokoro mo shiraga
  Haha ga kaih[=o].

    [Here her body lies; but her soul is far away, asleep in the
    arms of a man;—­and the white-haired mother, little knowing
    her daughter’s heart, is nursing (only the body).[30]]

[Footnote 30:  There is a double meaning, suggested rather than expressed, in the fourth line.  The word shiraga, “white-hair,” suggests shirazu, “not knowing.”]

    Tamakushig[’e]
  Futatsu no sugata
    Mis[’e]nuru wa,
  Awas[’e]-kagami no
  Kag[’e] no wazurai.

[If, when seated before her toilet-stand, she sees two faces reflected in her mirror,—­that might be caused by the mirror doubling itself under the influence of the Shadow-Sickness.[31]]

[Footnote 31:  There is in this poem a multiplicity of suggestion impossible to render in translation.  While making her toilet, the Japanese woman uses two mirrors (awas[’e]-kagami)—­one of which, a hand-mirror, serves to show her the appearance of the back part of her coiffure, by reflecting it into the larger stationary mirror.  But in this case of Rikomby[=o], the woman sees more than her face and the back of her head in the larger mirror:  she sees her own double.  The verses indicate that one of the mirrors may have caught the Shadow-Sickness, and doubled itself.  And there is a further suggestion of the ghostly sympathy said to exist between a mirror and the soul of its possessor.]

III. [=O]-GAMA

In the old Chinese and Japanese literature the toad is credited with supernatural capacities,—­such as the power to call down clouds, the power to make rain, the power to exhale from its mouth a magical mist which creates the most beautiful illusions.  Some toads are good spirits,—­friends of holy men; and in Japanese art a famous Rishi called “Gama-Sennin” (Toad Rishi) is usually represented with a white toad resting upon his shoulder, or squatting beside him.  Some toads are evil goblins, and create phantasms for the purpose of luring men to destruction.  A typical story about a creature of this class will be found in my “Kott[=o],” entitled “The Story of Chug[=o]r[=o].”

    M[’e] wa kagami,
  Kuchi wa tarai no
    Hodo ni aku: 
  Gama mo k[’e]sh[=o] no
  Mono to kos[=o] shir[’e].

[The eye of it, widely open, like a (round) mirror; the mouth of it opening like a wash-basin—­by these things you may know that the Toad is a goblin-thing (or, that the Toad is a toilet article).[32]]

[Footnote 32:  There are two Japanese words, kesh[=o], which in kana are written alike and pronounced alike, though represented by very different Chinese characters.  As written in kana, the term kesh[=o]-no-mono may signify either “toilet articles” or “a monstrous being,” “a goblin.”]