In the silence that followed the story, Tei's little insect sang, "Ji-i-i, chon-chon! Ji-i-i, chon-chon!" and Umé's answered, "Tsuzuré, sasé, sasé! Tsuzuré, sasé, sasé!" The night was creeping over the garden. The sound of the temple bells rang through the air, and little flashes of light twinkled in unexpected places. The children gathered closer to the mother and begged for one more story before bed-time. "Did you ever hear of Princess Splendor?" she asked. The children never had heard the story, and their mother told it to them. "She was a beautiful little moon-child who came down to the world hundreds of years ago. There was but one way for her to come, and that was on a silver moonbeam. "While she sat on a pine branch resting from her journey, a wood-cutter found her and took her to his home, where she stayed for many years. "But the Emperor, passing through the forest, wondered why the little brown house of the wood-cutter shone with such a wonderful glow, and when he found that there was a beautiful moon-child there, he went to see her. "By day or by night it was just the same with the house; it always shone with the glory of the Princess Splendor. "Of course the Emperor wished to marry her; but he had been too late in finding her, because she was to return to her home in the moon at the end of twenty years, and the end of the twenty years had come. "She begged to stay with the Emperor and began to weep, but it was of no use. The moon-mother took her home and tried to comfort her; but her tears went on falling, and they take wings to themselves as fast as they fall. These fireflies are the golden tears of the lovely Princess Splendor." It was quite dark when the story was finished, and Tei jumped up. "I must go home and show the intelligent insect to my honorable mother," she said. "Tara and I will walk across the gardens with you," said Umé. She reached under the veranda for three slender bamboo poles, while Tara ran for candles to put in the paper lanterns which hung on the end of the poles. Soon the three lanterns went bobbing down the garden path through the dusk, and the sound of happy voices floated back to the mother. "It was of no use!" said Umé's voice. "What was of no use?" asked Tara. "Princess Splendor could not marry the right prince," answered Umé. The mother smiled, and rising, carried Yuki San into the house, while the temple bells were still ringing through the twilight. CHAPTER IX A TRIP TO KAMAKURA It was a hot morning in midsummer. The veranda shutters had been open all night and the shoji had been only half closed so that tiny breezes might creep through to cool the pink cheek of Umé San, as she lay on the floor under a thin silk coverlet. All night the kirigirisu had sung in his cage near Umé's bed; and all night the mosquitoes had buzzed and sung outside of Umé's own cage of green mosquito netting.