By river's brink, our love has been,
And still my wandering thoughts will fly
Back to that quickly passing scene."

She was a little flattered by it, and gave Kokimi a reply, as
follows:--

"The slender reed that feels the wind
That faintly stirs its humble leaf,
Feels that too late it breathes its mind,
And only wakes, a useless grief."

Now the departure of Iyo-no-Kami was fixed for the beginning of
October.

Genji sent several parting presents to his wife, and in addition to
these some others, consisting of beautiful combs, fans, _nusa_,[60]
and the scarf he had carried away, along with the following, privately
through Kokimi:--

"I kept this pretty souvenir
In hopes of meeting you again,
I send it back with many a tear,
Since now, alas! such hope is vain."

There were many other minute details, which I shall pass over as
uninteresting to the reader.

Genji's official messenger returned, but her reply about the scarf was
sent through Kokimi:--

"When I behold the summer wings
Cicada like, I cast aside;
Back to my heart fond memory springs,
And on my eyes, a rising tide."

The day of the departure happened to be the commencement of the winter
season. An October shower fell lightly, and the sky looked gloomy.

Genji stood gazing upon it and hummed:--

"Sad and weary Autumn hours,
Summer joys now past away,
Both departing, dark the hours,
Whither speeding, who can say?"

All these intrigues were safely kept in strict privacy, and to have
boldly written all particulars concerning them is to me a matter of
pain. So at first I intended to omit them, but had I done so my
history would have become like a fiction, and the censure I should
expect would be that I had done so intentionally, because my hero was
the son of an Emperor; but, on the other hand, if I am accused of too
much loquacity, I cannot help it.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 52: Name of an ecclesiastical office.]

[Footnote 53: Sasinuki is a sort of loose trousers, and properly worn
by men only, hence some commentators conclude, the attendant here
mentioned to mean a boy, others contend, this garment was worn by
females also when they rode.]

[Footnote 54: A mythological repulsive deity who took part in the
building of a bridge at the command of a powerful magician.]

[Footnote 55: A popular superstition in China and Japan believes foxes
to have myste