Onna to mishi mo
Yanagi nari-keri!

[_Having vanished at daybreak (that Snow-Woman), none
could say whither she had gone. But what had seemed to be a
snow-white woman became indeed a willow-tree!_]

[Footnote 37: The term _shirayuki_, as here used, offers an example
of what Japanese poets call _Keny[=o]gen_, or "double-purpose words."
Joined to the words immediately following, it makes the phrase
"white-snow woman" (_shirayuki no onna_);--united with the words
immediately preceding, it suggests the reading, "whither-gone
not-knowing" (_yuku é wa shira[zu]_).]

Yuki-Onna
Mité wa yasathiku,
Matsu wo ori
Nama-daké hishigu
Chikara ari-keri!

[_Though the Snow-Woman appears to sight slender and gentle,
yet, to snap the pine-trees asunder and to crush the live
bamboos, she must have had strength._]

Samukésa ni
Zotto[38] wa surédo
Yuki-Onna,--
Yuki oré no naki
Yanagi-goshi ka mo!