ndest hospitality."

So saying, he placed before his humble host a purse of gold ryo. But
the old man, after many prostrations, gently pushed back the gift, and
said:--

"Kind master, the gold would be of no use to us; and you will probably
have need of it during your long, cold journey. Here we buy nothing;
and we could not spend so much money upon ourselves, even if we
wished... As for the girl, we have already bestowed her as a free
gift;--she belongs to you: therefore it is not necessary to ask our
leave to take her away. Already she has told us that she hopes to
accompany you, and to remain your servant for as long as you may be
willing to endure her presence. We are only too happy to know that you
deign to accept her; and we pray that you will not trouble yourself on
our account. In this place we could not provide her with proper
clothing,--much less with a dowry. Moreover, being old, we should in
any event have to separate from her before long. Therefore it is very
fortunate that you should be willing to take her with you now."

It was in vain that Tomotada tried to persuade the old people to accept
a present: he found that they cared nothing for money. But he saw that
they were really anxious to trust their daughter's fate to his hands;
and he therefore decided to take her with him. So he placed her upon
his horse, and bade the old folks farewell for the time being, with
many sincere expressions of gratitude.

"Honored Sir," the father made answer, "it is we, and not you, who have
reason for gratitude. We are sure that you will be kind to our girl;
and we have no fears for her sake."...

[Here, in the Japanese original, there is a queer break in the natural
course of the narration, which therefrom remains curiously
inconsistent. Nothing further is said about the mother of Tomotada, or
about the parents of Aoyagi, or about the daimyo of Noto. Evidently the
writer wearied of his work at this point, and hurried the story, very
carelessly, to its startling end. I am not able to supply his
omissions, or to repair his faults of construction; but I must venture
to put in a few explanatory details, without which the rest of the tale
would not hold together... It appears that Tomotada rashly took Aoyagi
with him to Kyoto, and so got into trouble; but we are not informed as
to where the couple lived afterwards.]

...Now a samurai was not allowed to marry without the consent of his
lord; and Tomotada could not