THE LEGEND OF THE GHOSTLY WATERFALL original: "Yurei-Daki"

"I'll bring it!" cried O-Katsu. And she darted out into the street with her sleeping boy on her back.

The night was frosty but clear. O-Katsu hurried down the empty street, and she saw that all the house fronts were tightly closed against the piercing cold. She ran out of the village and along the main road—splash-splash original: "pichà-pichà," an onomatopoeic term for the sound of her footsteps—with the deep silence of frozen rice fields on either side and only the stars to light her way. For half an hour she followed the open road; then she turned down a narrower path that wound beneath the cliffs. The path became darker and rougher as she proceeded, but she knew it well, and she soon heard the dull roar of the water. A few minutes later, the path widened into a glen, and the dull roar suddenly became a loud clamor. Before her, looming against a mass of blackness, she saw the long, glimmering streak of the waterfall. She dimly perceived the shrine and the money box An offertory box where worshippers leave coins. She rushed forward and reached out her hand...

"Hey! Miss O-Katsu!" original: "Oi! O-Katsu-San!"¹ a warning voice suddenly called out over the crashing of the water.

¹ The exclamation Hey! original: "Oi!" is used to get someone's attention; it is the Japanese equivalent for English exclamations like "Hello!" or "Hey there!"