ound it difficult indeed to perch upon the (foam-) blossoms of
the waves,--alas for the butterfly!]

Mutsumashi ya!--
Umare-kawareba
Nobe no cho. [10]

[If (in our next existence) we be born into the state of butterflies
upon the moor, then perchance we may be happy together!]

Nadeshiko ni
Chocho shiroshi--
Tare no kon? [11]

[On the pink-flower there is a white butterfly: whose spirit, I wonder?]

Ichi-nichi no
Tsuma to miekeri--
Cho futatsu.

[The one-day wife has at last appeared--a pair of butterflies!]

Kite wa mau,
Futari shidzuka no
Kocho kana!

[Approaching they dance; but when the two meet at last they are very
quiet, the butterflies!]

Cho wo ou
Kokoro-mochitashi
Itsumademo!

[Would that I might always have the heart (desire) of chasing
butterflies![12]]

* * *

Besides these specimens of poetry about butterflies, I have one queer
example to offer of Japanese prose literature on the same topic. The
original, of which I have attempted only a free translation, can be
found in the curious old book Mushi-Isame ("Insect-Admonitions"); and
it assumes the form of a discourse to a butterfly. But it is really a
didactic allegory,--suggesting the moral significance of a social rise
and fall:--

"Now, under the sun of spring, the winds are gentle, and flowers pinkly
bloom, and grasses are soft, and the hearts of people are glad.
Butterflies everywhere flutter joyously: so many persons now compose
Chinese verses and Japanese verses about butterflies.

"And this season, O Butterfly, is indeed the season of your bright
prosperity: so comely you now are that in the whole world there is
nothing more comely. For that reason all other insects admire and envy
you;--there is not among them even one that does not envy you. Nor do
insects alone regard you with envy: men also both envy and admire you.
Soshu of China, in a dream, assumed your shape;--Sakoku of Japan, after
dying, took your form, and therein made ghostly apparition. Nor is the
envy that you inspire shared only by insects and mankind: even things
without soul change their form into yours;--witness the barley-grass,
which turns into a butterfly. [13]

"And therefore you are lifted up with pride, and think to yourself: 'In
all this world there is nothing superior to me!' Ah! I can very well
guess what is in your heart: you are to