Madame Chrysantheme -- Complete

iding back upon their rollers; or the strange cry of some fruit-seller, patrolling our lofty suburb in the e

arters of an hour at least, it drones along, a rapid flow of words in a high nasal key; from time to time, when the inattentive spirits are not listening, it is accompanied by a clapping of dry palms, or by harsh sounds

ds and feet," say the

mi, who is the royal

all the defunct empe

next, the manes of all

tion; the spirits of t

and impure places; the

hence you spri

houghts. I am a coward and a sinner: purge me from my cowardice and sinfulness, even as the north wind drives the dust into the sea. Wash me clean from all my iniquities, as one washes away uncleanness in the river of Kamo. Make me the richest woman in the world.

, all the spirits, and the i

Prune sings all this, without omitting anythin

winding themselves from an inexhaustible roller, and escaping to take flight through the air. By its very weirdness, a

mornings-while our night-lamps burn low before the smiling Buddha, while the eternal sun, hardly risen, already sends through the

scend hurriedly to the sea by grassy footpa

muezzin which used to awaken me in the dark win