Kwairyo found himself upon a cleared space at the top of a hill, with a
full moon shining overhead; and he saw before him a small thatched cottage,
cheerfully lighted from within. The woodcutter led him to a shed at the
back of the house, whither water had been conducted, through bamboo-pipes,
from some neighboring stream; and the two men washed their feet. Beyond the
shed was a vegetable garden, and a grove of cedars and bamboos; and beyond
the trees appeared the glimmer of a cascade, pouring from some loftier
height, and swaying in the moonshine like a long white robe.



As Kwairyo entered the cottage with his guide, he perceived four persons
-- men and women -- warming their hands at a little fire kindled in the ro
[1] of the principle apartment. They bowed low to the priest, and greeted
him in the most respectful manner. Kwairyo wondered that persons so poor,
and dwelling in such a solitude, should be aware of the polite forms of
greeting. "These are good people," he thought to himself; "and they must
have been taught by some one well acquainted with the rules of propriety."
Then turning to his host,-- the aruji, or house-master, as the others
called him,-- Kwairyo said:--


"From the kindness of your speech, and from the very polite welcome given
me by your household, I imagine that you have not always been a woodcutter.
Perhaps you formerly belonged to one of the upper classes?"


Smiling, the woodcutter answered:--