“Tell me about her... Where did you see her?”
Then Minokichi told her about the terrible night in the ferryman’s
hut,—and about the White Woman that had stooped above him, smiling and
whispering,—and about the silent death of old Mosaku. And he said:—
“Asleep or awake, that was the only time that I saw a being as
beautiful as you. Of course, she was not a human being; and I was
afraid of her,—very much afraid,—but she was so white!... Indeed, I
have never been sure whether it was a dream that I saw, or the Woman of
the Snow.”...
O-Yuki flung down her sewing, and arose, and bowed above Minokichi
where he sat, and shrieked into his face:—
“It was I—I—I! Yuki it was! And I told you then that I would kill you
if you ever said one word about it!... But for those children asleep
there, I would kill you this moment! And now you had better take very,
very good care of them; for if ever they have reason to complain of
you, I will treat you as you deserve!”...
Even as she screamed, her voice became thin, like a crying of
wind;—then she melted into a bright white mist that spired to the
roof-beams, and shuddered away through the smoke-hole.... Never again
was she seen.