ayashig['e] ni
Miy['e]nuru wa
Abura shiborishi
Furu-tsubaki ka-mo?

[_As for (the reason why) the light of that lamp appears to be
a Weirdness,[63]--perhaps the oil was expressed from (the nuts
of) the ancient tsu-baki?_]

[Footnote 63: _Ayashig['e]_ is a noun formed from the adjective
_ayashi_, "suspicious," "strange," "supernatural," "doubtful." The
word _kag['e]_ 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
her to seek humble employment, but that she had received a literary
education, and therefore wished to enter, if possible, into the
service of a scholar. Busanshi was charmed by her beauty, and took her
into his household without further questioning. She proved to be much
more than a good domestic: indeed, the nature of her accomplishments
made Busanshi suspect that she had been brought up in the court of
some prince, or in the palace of some great lord. She displayed
a perfect knowledge of the etiquette and the polite arts which
are taught only to ladies of the highest rank; and she possessed
astonishing skill in calligraphy, in painti