Page:The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East, Volume 13.djvu/51

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LITERATURE OF THE EAST
33

my wailing and weeping, I said: 'I wail because I wish to go to my deceased mother's land'—whereupon the Great-August deity said: 'Thou shalt not dwell in this land,' and deigned to expel me with a divine expulsion. It is therefore solely with the thought of taking leave of thee and departing, that I have ascended hither. I have no strange intentions." Then the Heaven-Shining-Great-August deity said: "If that be so, whereby shall I know the sincerity of thine intentions?" Thereupon His-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness replied, saying: "Let each of us swear,[1] and produce children." So as they then swore to each other from the opposite banks of the Tranquil River of Heaven, the august names of the deities that were born from the mist of her breath when, having first begged His-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness to hand her the ten-grasp saber which was girded on him, and broken it into three fragments, and with the jewels making a jingling sound, having brandished and washed them in the True-Pool-Well of Heaven, and having crunchingly crunched them, the Heaven-Shining-Great deity blew them away, were Her Augustness Torrent-Mist-Princess, another august name for whom is Her Augustness Princess-of-the-Island-of-the-Offing; next Her Augustness Lovely-Island-Princess,[2] another august name for whom is Her Augustness Good-Princess; next Her Augustness Princess-of-the-Torrent. The august name of the deity that was born from the mist of his breath when, having begged the Heaven-Shining-Great-August deity to hand him the augustly complete string of curved jewels eight feet long—of five hundred jewels—that was twisted in the left august bunch of her hair, and with the jewels making a jingling sound having brandished and washed them in the True-Pool-Well of Heaven, and having crunchingly crunched them, His-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness blew them away, was His Augustness Truly-Conqueror-I-Conqueror-Conquering-Swift-

  1. I.e., "pledge our faith," "bind ourselves," in order to show forth the sincerity of our intentions.
  2. Ichiki-shima-hime-no-mikoto, ichiki being an unusual form of itsuki. The island, which is in the Inland Sea, is still celebrated, but bears in common parlance the name of Miya-zhime, i.e., "Temple Island."

VOL.—XIII. 3.