fascinated. ‘This large zithern,’ he said to the old man presently, ‘is usually supposed to be a woman’s instrument and requires a very delicate, fluttering touch.’ He meant this quite generally, and not as an apology for his own playing; but the old man answered with a deprecatory smile: ‘I cannot imagine a touch more suitable to this instrument than yours. This zithern was originally a present from the Emperor Engi[1] and has been in my family for three generations. Since my misfortunes and retirement I have had little taste for such distractions as this, and have lost what small skill I ever possessed. But in times of great spiritual stress or deep depression I have occasionally turned to this instrument for solace and support. And indeed there is in my household one who from watching me at such times has herself developed a strange proficiency, and already plays in a manner which would not, I venture to think, displease those departed princes to whom the zithern once belonged. But perhaps by now, like the mountain-hermit in the old story, I have an ear that is better attuned to the rushing of wind through the tree-tops than to the music of human hands. Nevertheless I wish that, yourself unseen, you might one day hear this person’s playing’; and his eyes moistened in fond paternal recollection. ‘I had no idea,’ answered Genji, ‘that I was in the neighbourhood of genius such as you describe. I fear my playing will have sounded to you indeed as a mere “rushing of wind through the tree-tops,” and he hastened to put back the zithern in the old priest’s hands. ‘It is indeed a curious fact,’ Genji continued, ‘that all the best players of this instrument have been women. You will remember that the Fifth Princess became, under the instruction of her father the Emperor Saga,[2] the most famous performer of{{bc|
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THE SACRED TREE
