signifies both "light" and "shadow,"--and is here used with double
suggestiveness. The vegetable oil used in the old Japanese lamps
used to be obtained from the nuts of the _tsubaki_. The reader should
remember that the expression "ancient tsubaki" is equivalent to the
expression "goblin-tsubaki,"--the tsubaki being supposed to turn into
a goblin-tree only when it becomes old.]

* * * * *

--Nearly all the stories and folk-beliefs about which these _ky[=o]ka_
were written seem to have come from China; and most of the Japanese
tales of tree-spirits appear to have had a Chinese origin. As the
flower-spirits and hamadryads of the Far East are as yet little
known to Western readers, the following Chinese story may be found
interesting.

* * * * *

There was a Chinese scholar--called, in Japanese books, T[=o] no
Busanshi--who was famous for his love of flowers. He was particularly
fond of peonies, and cultivated them with great skill and
patience.[64]

[Footnote 64: The tree-peony (_botan_) is here referred to,--a flower
much esteemed in Japan. It is said to have been introduced from China
during the eighth century; and no less than five hundred varieties of
it are now cultivated by Japanese gardeners.]

One day a very comely girl came to the house of Busanshi, and begged
to be taken into his service. She said that circumstances obliged