taking with them the old woman, made a progress to the moor of Kaya in Kutawata in the province of Ohomi, where they dug them up, and found that it was really as the old woman had said. Looking down into the grave, they made lament, and their words showed deep and passionate feeling. From (XV. 18.) antiquity until now never was there anything so cruel. The body of Nakachiko[1] lay across the honoured bones, and were mixed with them so that it was impossible to distinguish them from one another. Then there appeared the nurse of the Imperial Prince Ihazaka, who made representation to the Emperor, saying:—"The upper teeth of Nakachiko had fallen out, so that by this they can be distinguished." But although they were able, in accordance with the nurse's words, to distinguish the skulls, they never succeeded in separating the bones of the four members. Accordingly a pair of misasagi were erected on the moor of Kaya resembling each other, so that they seemed but one. The funeral rites also were alike. The Emperor ordered the old woman, Okime, to live in the neighbourhood of the palace, where he treated her with respect and showed her kindness, not allowing her to be in want.
In this month he made an order, saying:—"Old woman! thou art desolate and infirm, and walking is not convenient for thee. Let there be a rope stretched across to support thee when thou goest out and comest in. And let there be a bell attached to the end of the rope, so that there may be no need for any one to announce thee. When thou comest, ring this bell, and we shall know that thou art coming." Herewith the old woman, in obedience to the Imperial order, rang the bell before she came forward. The Emperor, hearing from afar the sound of the bell, made a song, saying:—
| Past Wosone, | ||
| In Asajihara, | ||
| The far-extending | moor! | |
| bell | ||
| There the bell tinkles! | ||
| Okime must be coming![2] | ||
- ↑ See above, XIV. 5.
- ↑ The point of this poem is not to be expressed in English. It rests on the similarity of the first syllable of nute, bell, with nu, a moor, which must be read twice in different senses. The first half of the poem takes nu in the latter sense. With the latter half it is only the first syllable of nute.
