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When the lord ordered Kohagi of Hitachi to be summoned to his presence, he was answered that she was only one of the lowest menials, and too dirty to appear before him. But he paid no heed to these words, only commanding that she should come at once, no matter how dirty she might be.
One day Oguri-Hangwan left his residence to make a journey of inspection through the provinces of which he had been appointed ruler. And reaching Mino, he resolved to visit Kohagi of Hitachi, and to utter his thanks to her for her exceeding goodness.
Then Terute-Hime was named Kohagi of Hitachi, and she was told that she would have to serve her master very faithfully in his business. But this order she refused to obey, and said that she would perform with pleasure any work given her to do, however mean or hard, but that she would never follow the business of a joro. "Then," cried Chobei in anger, "your daily tasks shall be these:
Then I could question it about Kane-uji, either by word of mouth or in writing." When day dawned above the neighboring misty mountains, Kohagi went away to get an inkstone and a brush; and she soon returned with these to the place where the cart was. Then, with the brush, she wrote, below the inscription upon the wooden tablet attached to the breast of the gaki-ami, these words:
"When you shall have recovered and are able to return to your province, pray call upon Kohagi of Hitachi, a servant of Yorodzuya Chobei of the town of Obaka in the province of Mino. "For it will give me much joy to see the person for whose sake I obtained with difficulty five days' freedom, three of which I gave to drawing your cart as far as this place."
But Kohagi said to him: "Lo, master! the hens go to their nests when the weather becomes cold, end the little birds hie to the deep forest. Even so do men in time of misfortune flee to the shelter of benevolence. "Surely it is because you are known as a kindly man that the gaki-ami rested a while outside the fence of this house.
Oguri then asked her to tell him her real name; but Kohagi refused, saying: "If I may not serve my lord with wine, except on condition of telling my real name, then I can only leave the presence of my lord." But as she was about to go, the Hangwan called to her: "Nay, stop a little while.
"Now I shall promise to give up even a life for my master and mistress in case of need, providing you will only grant me three days' freedom now." So at last the miserly Chobei was persuaded to grant the prayer; and his wife was glad to add even two days more to the time permitted. And Kohagi, thus freed for five days, was so rejoiced that she at once without delay commenced her horrible task.
And so, after much time, the gaki-ami in its cart appeared before the joroya of Yorodzuya Chobei; and Kohagi of Hitachi, seeing it, was greatly moved by the inscription.
Therefore, much against her will, Kohagi was obliged to appear before the lord, whom she at first beheld through a screen, and saw that he so much like the Hangwan that she was greatly startled.
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