Fusako, instead of answering him in a poem, asked her friend to tell her what was grieving him, what was lying so heavy on his soul. Lord Tsunefusa was grateful for the question and answered his woman-friend, Fusako, as follows:

"Years ago, in my youth, when I was still the governor of Ise, I frequently went for a walk alone in the summer nights. Of course I knew the surroundings very well, so it was the more surprising, when, on the occasion of one of my walks of this sort, not very far from my house, I stroke upon an unknown road; upon a duly built. wide road, which was as if it had grown from under the earth; its end was lost into the distance. As if some god threw me into a region where I had never been, so did I stand there, being at a loss. I didn't even get over my surprise, when the darkness, the wall of which was struck through only here and there by the spears of the stars and was broken only by the small, circular gate cut by the Moon, suddenly dissolved by an overwhelming, almost diurnal light. Though this happened upon the hour of the water-rat, still in this deepest darkness there began to shine the greatest light. And in this shining light, on the unknown road, a beautiful girl was approaching me. On her set face the ceaseless smile of heavenly beings, golden, embroidered flowers on her purple garment, white ribbons in her ebony hair, and among her thin, delicate fingers an expanded fan, being kept in front of her. I bowed to her but I didn't dare to address her; never even in my dreams had I seen such a beauty! (Don't knit your brows, my dear sister, Fusako, surely you are a beautiful woman, but we didn't know each other at that time. Well, if you give me permission, I am going to continue the story.) The wonderful girl returned my greeting and said: 'You are Tsunefusa, the scion of the famous and powerful Minamoto family. Please, though I am not permitted to disclose my identity, allow me to invite you to have a tea with me in my house.' I nodded my approval without a word, indicating, that we could go and I would accompany her, since I would have followed her anywhere! But she took no step, only expanded her fan even more, her fan, which was glittering in the five colours and moved it around. In that very moment we were already standing in a miraculous pagoda, the carvings of which must have been made by the most outstanding masters of whose skills even the builders of Nara could have had been envious! Then she made another movement with her fan, thereupon a small, varnished table appeared at our feet. Following her gesture I took a seat, she left me for a while through one of the doors, and soon returned with a tray in her hands, on which she brought sweet-smelling tea-leaves. It struck me that she didn't put her fan down even for a moment, but I didn't ask anything. When, after having tea, I dared to speak at last, I confessed her that I had been always dreaming about this: that once there would appear in front of me the woman whom I feel to be worthy of my love. But now I feel - this was what I said to her -, that I was unworthy of hers. She convinced me with kind words that my anxiety was ill-grounded, and then, with a single animated gesture expanded the fan kept in her hand to such an extent that it took the shape of the blooming flower of desire, and with this gesture she created a freshly made bed under our bodies that were longing for each other. We spent the whole night in loving dissolution, but with the arrival of dawn the girl shut her fan, thereupon disappeared the pagoda and before I would have been able to say a word, her slender figure wasn't there either; at last the road disappeared as well and I was standing there in front of the gate of my own house in the garish morning light.

On the following night I started on my way already in the hour of the boar, feeling grief, desire and hope deep in my heart. How much was my scare realising that I had lost my way and I had been walking in quite another direction then the previous night! My wonderful lover will obviously seek me and here she won't find me. But how much was I amazed when all of a sudden, there appeared, in flowing light, the wide road known since last night, there stood on it the glorious pagoda, and, entering, I found there my sweetheart.

And this went on night by night: I had always lost my way and always arrived. But the wonderful girl, in spite of my entreaty, disappeared every dawn and I could never be sure about meeting her again the following night.

But she appeared every night. Nevertheless, this perpetual uncertainty was more and more horrible. I wanted her to settle down in my house, I wanted her to stay beside me forever. Oh, what a simpleton I was! These words really suited well my foolishness:

'What have you done, Tsunefusa! I'm in your power, but you won't gain much pleasure from it, you'll see.'

But I didn't believe her, so much was my pleasure that she would stay with me during the day, at last! I led her to my house, I had the Eastern Room furnished for her, then left and set about arranging my business in my office. You can imagine how much I was amazed, when in the afternoon I had started to her room and she came towards me! I asked her if she had something against the room. Thereupon she led me speechless to the movable panel in the wall - and what was I to see! The room behind the door had disappeared, as if it had never been there!

I began to be afraid of my beautiful sweetheart, but my love was so great, that it overcame my fear and, instead of asking any question, I led her to my own room. But when we lay down on the bed to surrender ourselves to the joy of our love, the bed disappeared under us and we were lying on the bare floor. Thereupon I couldn't help asking her if she took revenge on me doing all these things? But she answered like this:

'I don't want to take revenge for anything at all. I love you, and please, believe me, that from the two of us I am the more unhappy. For when this morning you have closed my way leading away from you, the way leading to you disappeared as well. You should have guessed that I didn't come from this Earth. And, since I wanted to guard your love for me, I wasn't allowed to say anything about myself. But now, when everything is hopeless anyway, I can tell you the truth.'

Then she made a pause and I asked her with a sorrowful heart to continue her speech. This was what she said:

'Let you know that I am the Girl of the Clouds. Once upon a time the wind blew me to this country, I flew over your house, I caught glimpse of you and I was in love at first sight. I entreated to the gods to give me the shape of a human being so that I can come down to you and be your sweetheart. Finally Kvannon handed me a fan and said: >You are not a human being and so, though from now on you'll have the shape of a woman, notwithstanding, you would not have a place in the world of people. You wouldn't have a house of your own to live in and you wouldn't have a garden of your own to walk in; you wouldn't have a bed to wait in it for your sweetheart while he's coming home. You would only roam about, and you would feel this favour of mine, giving you the shape of a human being, nothing else than a curse. So take this fan. Your place in the world is hidden among the folds of this fan. When you expand it, you will find room anywhere, even in the narrowest corner; and the more times you expand it, the more spacious the human world will be; it will always be enlarged by a few foldings. But since people are able to dream only by night and during the day they consider miracles as delusions, come back every morning into Heaven and stay among them only while the night endures. And be careful that nobody should be able to deprive you of this fan, for without it you will lie over them as a curse; without it the room you take up in the human world will dissolve into thin air. There won't be a place for you to sit down, there won't be a bed on which you may lie down to have a rest; roaming will be your fate and you will call yourself most happy if you can only return to us into Heaven. Because if your fan will be touched even once by the hand of a human being, it will loose its magic power. < So spoke Kvannon to me and all I can ask of you my love is to release me back to Heaven because here on the Earth all my steps would be followed by curse and disaster.'

This was what my wonderful sweetheart said to me and I begged for her to leave her fan, that had lost its magic power anyway, with me. And so it happened. And at dawn she stepped up onto the bridge leading to Heaven and in the next moment I saw a cloud gliding past the Moon that was just preparing to set. The fan kept in my hand dwindled into nothing and I felt as if the gods would have deceived me! And since then disturbs me if I see clouds gliding past the Moon, gliding clouds that do but disturb the quiet night contemplation."

By the time Lord Tsunefusa had finished his story, day was beginning to brake. So they bade farewell to each other and Fusako, as a sort of saying good-bye, wrote these words on a shining white silk-ribbon for her sorrowful friend: