The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: not a scholar; and even of the language of superior men I know nothing." At
these words the goddess smiled, and drew from her bosom a little box,
shaped like an incense box. She opened the box, dipped a finger into it,
and took therefrom some kind of ointment with which she anointed the ears
of the man. "Now," she said to him, "try to find some Ants, and when you
find any, stoop down, and listen carefully to their talk. You will be able
to understand it; and you will hear of something to your advantage... Only
remember that you must not frighten or vex the Ants." Then the goddess
vanished away.
The man immediately went out to look for some Ants. He had scarcely
crossed the threshold of his door when he perceived two Ants upon a stone
 Kwaidan |