And that is just the reason why they are pleased by your fluttering wings
and delicate shape;-- that is why they are kind to you.


"Now, in this spring season, while you sportively dance through the
gardens of the wealthy, or hover among the beautiful alleys of cherry-trees
in blossom, you say to yourself: 'Nobody in the world has such pleasure as
I, or such excellent friends. And, in spite of all that people may say, I
most love the peony,-- and the golden yellow rose is my own darling, and I
will obey her every least behest; for that is my pride and my delight.'...
So you say. But the opulent and elegant season of flowers is very short:
soon they will fade and fall. Then, in the time of summer heat, there will
be green leaves only; and presently the winds of autumn will blow, when
even the leaves themselves will shower down like rain, parari-parari. And
your fate will then be as the fate of the unlucky in the proverb, Tanomi ki
no shita ni ame furu [Even through the tree upon which I relied for shelter
the rain leaks down]. For you will seek out your old friend, the
root-cutting insect, the grub, and beg him to let you return into your
old-time hole;-- but now having wings, you will not be able to enter the
hole because of them, and you will not be able to shelter your body
anywhere between heaven and earth, and all the moor-grass will then have
withered, and you will not have even one drop of dew with which to moisten
your tongue,-- and there will be nothing left for you to do but to lie down
and die. all because of your light and frivolous heart -- but, ah! how
lamentable an end!"...

III