-- though he saw that his admiring gaze made her blush;-- and he left the
wine and food untasted before him. The mother said: "Kind Sir, we very much
hope that you will try to eat and to drink a little,-- though our
peasant-fare is of the worst,-- as you must have been chilled by that
piercing wind." Then, to please the old folks, Tomotada ate and drank as he
could; but the charm of the blushing girl still grew upon him. He talked
with her, and found that her speech was sweet as her face. Brought up in
the mountains as she might have been;-- but, in that case, her parents must
at some time been persons of high degree; for she spoke and moved like a
damsel of rank. Suddenly he addressed her with a poem -- which was also a
question -- inspired by the delight in his heart:--

"Tadzunetsuru,
Hana ka tote koso,
Hi wo kurase,
Akenu ni otoru
Akane sasuran?"



["Being on my way to pay a visit, I found that which I took to be a
flower: therefore here I spend the day... Why, in the time before dawn, the
dawn-blush tint should glow -- that, indeed, I know not."] [2]



Without a moment's hesitation, she answered him in these verses:--

"Izuru hi no
Honomeku iro wo