come down in sudden flood any further traffic across the stream is impossible." With that the coolies went their several ways.
At these cruel words, the baffled girl fell to the ground, but in a moment she was on her feet again, and turning to the heavens her sightless eyes, "How merciless ye are, ye gods," she cried, with writhing body, and stamping foot. "Amid all my woes, amid all the hardships of these long dreary months, not for a single moment did I forget to call on you, that ye might vouchsafe to me, yet one more meeting with my beloved; yet now, so cruel ye are, at this moment of all moments, ye have cut off from me my passage across this stream!" Then her defiance collapsed and she murmured with an air of resignation: "Ah, all is plain to me now. This sudden swelling of the river reveals to me that I am not destined to become Asojirō's bride. It is the will of the gods, of a surety, that by my own act I should put an end to my life. What reason have I for clinging to life?"
Even as she spoke, she gathered a number of small stones and placed them in her flowing sleeves. Thus prepared, she was on the point of
