("At the coming of twilight I invited him to return with me --! Now to
sleep alone in the shadow of the rushes of Akanuma -- ah! what misery
unspeakable!") [2]

And after having uttered these verses she exclaimed:-- "Ah, you do not know
-- you cannot know what you have done! But to-morrow, when you go to
Akanuma, you will see,-- you will see..." So saying, and weeping very
piteously, she went away.


When Sonjo awoke in the morning, this dream remained so vivid in his mind
that he was greatly troubled. He remembered the words:-- "But to-morrow,
when you go to Akanuma, you will see,-- you will see." And he resolved to
go there at once, that he might learn whether his dream was anything more
than a dream.


So he went to Akanuma; and there, when he came to the river-bank, he saw
the female oshidori swimming alone. In the same moment the bird perceived
Sonjo; but, instead of trying to escape, she swam straight towards him,
looking at him the while in a strange fixed way. Then, with her beak, she
suddenly tore open her own body, and died before the hunter's eyes...



Sonjo shaved his head, and became a priest.