Free Legends of Japan by Hiroshi Naito Page A

casting her soft, silvery light upon everything, weeds were swaying in the autumn breeze, and crickets were chirping here and there.
    Pushing off one of the sliding doors, he stepped into the dark house and examined the rooms one after another, and lo! there in the living room sat his beloved wife looking toward him. "Welcome home, my dear husband! I have been expecting your return every day. I missed you very much," she said faintly, showing a sweet smile on her beautiful face.
    Received in such an unexpectedly warm manner, he felt relieved and told her how anxious he had been to see her, saying, "Now that we are together again in this house I never wish to part from you. I don't want anything except you. You are everything to me."
    As night was far advanced, they went to bed together. "By the way, my darling, did you live here all by yourself during my absence?" asked the samurai.
    "Yes, I lived alone, as you say. I did not have any source of income, so I had to cut down the cost of living as much as possible. To employ a servant was far beyond my means."
    Poor thing! How sadly she had lived in such a lonely house! The more he felt pity for her, the wider he was kept awake. It was around dawn when he finally fell asleep. When he awoke, it was broad daylight and the sun was streaming into the dark room through the chinks in the doors.
    "Now, let us get up, darling," said the samurai, and turned toward the wife. Behold! There beside him lay—a dead body, now a mere bag of bones! Springing to his feet with a shriek, he rushed out into the garden, breaking down a sliding door. When once again he looked into the room, there still lay the dead body! He stood in dismay for a moment. But soon he came to his senses and went to a neighbor's house and asked, "Excuse me, but may I ask something about the house over there? Would you tell me who lives in that house?"
    The neighbor gazed at his face for a moment and then said, "That house! Don't you know anything about that house? All right, I will tell you a story. Many many years ago, a poor samurai and his beautiful wife lived a happy life in that house. One day the samurai left to take a position in a local administrative office, leaving his beloved wife behind. Many months and years passed and yet not a single letter came from him. However, the faithful wife led a life of misery, vainly waiting day after day for a call from her husband.
    "Some time ago, a rumor spread in the neighborhood that the samurai was indulging in luxury, living with another woman far away at his post, and not giving a thought to his poor wife at home. Oh, what a wretch! Hearing this, the wife grieved so deeply over her ill fate that she passed away this summer after a long illness. Poor woman! As she had neither relatives nor friends to hold a funeral service for her, her dead body has been lying untouched in that gloomy house."
    People of those days told one another that the dead wife must have returned from beyond the grave to attain a long-cherished desire to see her dear husband again.
    â€”THE END —