h pleads hard to be saved from the shame of a
failure. Driven to a compliance, there is nothing left for it but to
appeal to the gods for aid. He prays to the patron god of his family,
Inari Sama.[38] A man suddenly appears, and calls the smith; this man
is the god Inari Sama in disguise. The smith asks who is his visitor,
and how does he know him by name. The stranger answers, "Thou hast
been ordered to make a blade for the Emperor." "This is passing
strange," says the smith. "I received the order but a moment since;
how comest thou to know of it?" "Heaven has a voice which is heard upon
the earth. Walls have ears, and stones tell tales.[39] There are no
secrets in the world. The flash of the blade ordered by him who is
above the clouds (the Emperor) is quickly seen. By the grace of the
Emperor the sword shall be quickly made." Here follows the praise of
certain famous blades, and an account of the part they played in
history, with special reference to the sword which forms one of the
regalia. The sword which the Emperor has sent for shall be inferior to
none of these; the smith may set his heart at rest. The smith,
awe-struck, expresses his wonder, and asks again who is addressing
him. He is bidden to go and deck out his anvil, and a supernatural
power will help him. The visitor disappears in a cloud. The smith
prepares his anvil, at the four corners of which he places images of
the gods, while above it he stretches the straw rope and paper
pendants hung up in temples to shut out foul or ill-omened influences.
He prays for strength to make the blade, not for his own glory, but
for the honour of the Emperor. A young man, a fox in disguise,
appears, and helps Munechika to forge the steel. The noise of the
anvil resounds to heaven and over the earth. The chorus announces that
the blade is finished; on one side is the mark of Munechika, on the
other is graven "The Little Fox" in clear characters.

[Footnote 38: The note at the end of the Story of the Grateful Foxes
contains an account of Inari Sama, and explains how the foxes minister
to him.]

[Footnote 39: This is a literal translation of a Japanese proverb.]

The subjects of the No are all taken from old legends of the country;
a shrine at Miwo, by the sea-shore, marks the spot where the suit of
feathers was found, and the miraculously forged sword is supposed to
be in the armoury of the Emperor to this day. The beauty of the
poetry--and it is very beautiful--is mar