* * * * *

--With these necessary explanations, the quality of the following
_ky[=o]ka_ can be understood. A picture which appears in the _Ky[=o]ka
Hyaku-Monogatari_ shows a maid-servant anxious to offer a cup of tea
to her mistress,--a victim of the "ghost-sickness." The servant cannot
distinguish between the original and the apparitional shapes before
her; and the difficulties of the situation are suggested in the first
of the _ky[=o]ka_ which I have translated:--

Ko-ya, soré to?
Ayamé mo wakanu
Rikomby[=o]:
Izuré we tsuma to
Hiku zo wazuraü!

[_Which one is this?--which one is that? Between the two
shapes of the Rikomby[=o] it is not possible to distinguish.
To find out which is the real wife--that will be an affliction
of spirit indeed!_]

Futatsu naki
Inochi nagara mo
Kakégaë no
Karada no miyuru--
Kage no wazurai!

[_Two lives there certainly are not;--nevertheless an extra
body is visible, by reason of the Shadow-Sickness._]