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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: as well as of a living person. Indeed it is a custom of souls to take
butterfly-shape in order to announce the fact of their final departure from
the body; and for this reason any butterfly which enters a house ought to
be kindly treated.
To this belief, and to queer fancies connected with it, there are many
allusions in popular drama. For example, there is a well-known play called
Tonde-deru-Kocho-no-Kanzashi; or, "The Flying Hairpin of Kocho." Kocho is a
beautiful person who kills herself because of false accusations and cruel
treatment. Her would-be avenger long seeks in vain for the author of the
wrong. But at last the dead woman's hairpin turns into a butterfly, and
serves as a guide to vengeance by hovering above the place where the
Kwaidan |
