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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: the woman was nowhere to be seen; and the snow was driving furiously into
the hut. Minokichi closed the door, and secured it by fixing several
billets of wood against it. He wondered if the wind had blown it open;-- he
thought that he might have been only dreaming, and might have mistaken the
gleam of the snow-light in the doorway for the figure of a white woman: but
he could not be sure. He called to Mosaku, and was frightened because the
old man did not answer. He put out his hand in the dark, and touched
Mosaku's face, and found that it was ice! Mosaku was stark and dead...
By dawn the storm was over; and when the ferryman returned to his station,
a little after sunrise, he found Minokichi lying senseless beside the
frozen body of Mosaku. Minokichi was promptly cared for, and soon came to
 Kwaidan |