The old man almost immediately fell asleep; but the boy, Minokichi, lay
awake a long time, listening to the awful wind, and the continual slashing
of the snow against the door. The river was roaring; and the hut swayed and
creaked like a junk at sea. It was a terrible storm; and the air was every
moment becoming colder; and Minokichi shivered under his rain-coat. But at
last, in spite of the cold, he too fell asleep.


He was awakened by a showering of snow in his face. The door of the hut
had been forced open; and, by the snow-light (yuki-akari), he saw a woman
in the room, -- a woman all in white. She was bending above Mosaku, and
blowing her breath upon him;-- and her breath was like a bright white
smoke. Almost in the same moment she turned to Minokichi, and stooped over
him. He tried to cry out, but found that he could not utter any sound. The
white woman bent down over him, lower and lower, until her face almost
touched him; and he saw that she was very beautiful, -- though her eyes
made him afraid. For a little time she continued to look at him;-- then she
smiled, and she whispered:-- "I intended to treat you like the other man.
But I cannot help feeling some pity for you, -- because you are so young...
You are a pretty boy, Minokichi; and I will not hurt you now. But, if you
ever tell anybody -- even your own mother -- about what you have seen this
night, I shall know it; and then I will kill you... Remember what I say!"


With these words, she turned from him, and passed through the doorway.
Then he found himself able to move; and he sprang up, and looked out. But
the woman was nowhere to be seen; and the snow was driving furiously into
the hut. Minokichi closed the door, and secured it by fixing several
billets of wood against it. He wondered if the wind had blown it open;-- he