Genji occupied his time in quietly reading his Buddhist Bible. In the evening, the thunder became less loud, though the wind still blew not less violently than in the daytime. Everyone in the residence said that they had heard of what is termed a flood-tide, which often caused a great deal of damage, but they had never witnessed such a scene as they had that day. Genji dropped off into a slumber, when indistinctly the resemblance of a human figure came to him and said, "You are requested to come to the palace, why don't you come?" Genji was startled by the words, and awoke. He thought that the king of the dragon palace[117] might have admired him, and was perhaps the author of this strange dream. These thoughts made him weary of remaining at Suma. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 106: When a person was exiled, he was generally deprived of his own title, or was degraded. Genji appears to have been deprived of his.] [Footnote 107: A favorite phrase in Chinese poems describing the journey of exile.] [Footnote 108: Suma is about sixty miles from Kioto, the then capital.] [Footnote 109: A musical instrument--often called a _koto._] [Footnote 110: When Sugawara, before referred to, arrived at Akashi, on his way to exile, the village postmaster expressed his surprise. Thereupon Sugawara gave him a stanza, which he composed: "Oh, master, be not surprised to see This change in my estate, for so Once to bloom, and once to fade Is spring and autumn's usual lot." ] [Footnote 111: In Chinese history it is recounted that a certain artful intriguer made a fool of his Sovereign by bringing a deer to the Court and presenting it before the Emperor, declaring it to be a horse. All the courtiers, induced by his great influence, agreed with him in calling it a horse, to the Emperor's great astonishment and bewilderment.] [Footnote 112: The coast along by Suma is celebrated for Chidori, a small sea-bird that always flies in large flocks. Their cries are considered very plaintive, and are often spoken of by poets.] [Footnote 113: Expressions used in a poem by Hak-rak-ten, describing a tasteful residence.] [Footnote 114: Here To-no-Chiujio is compared to the bird.] [Footnote 115: The third day of March is one of five festival days in China and Japan, when prayers for purification, or prayers intended to request the freeing one's self from the influence of fiends, are said on the banks of a river.] [Footnote 116: In the Japanese mythology the number of gods who assemble at their councils is stated to have been eight millions. This is an expression which is used to signify a large number rather than an exact one.]