asked Minokichi whether he was married, or pledge to marry; and he told her
that, although he had only a widowed mother to support, the question of an
"honorable daughter-in-law" had not yet been considered, as he was very
young... After these confidences, they walked on for a long while without
speaking; but, as the proverb declares, Ki ga areba, me mo kuchi hodo ni
mono wo iu: "When the wish is there, the eyes can say as much as the
mouth." By the time they reached the village, they had become very much
pleased with each other; and then Minokichi asked O-Yuki to rest awhile at
his house. After some shy hesitation, she went there with him; and his
mother made her welcome, and prepared a warm meal for her. O-Yuki behaved
so nicely that Minokichi's mother took a sudden fancy to her, and persuaded
her to delay her journey to Yedo. And the natural end of the matter was
that Yuki never went to Yedo at all. She remained in the house, as an
"honorable daughter-in-law."



O-Yuki proved a very good daughter-in-law. When Minokichi's mother came to
die,-- some five years later,-- her last words were words of affection and
praise for the wife of her son. And O-Yuki bore Minokichi ten children,
boys and girls,-- handsome children all of them, and very fair of skin.


The country-folk thought O-Yuki a wonderful person, by nature different
from themselves. Most of the peasant-women age early; but O-Yuki, even
after having become the mother of ten children, looked as young and fresh
as on the day when she had first come to the village.