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— 142 —
Nippon ichi no
Jōsan ga,
Chōchin tomoshite,
Koi to ina!
Come, firefly, come! Come with your light burning! The nicest girl in Japan wants to know if you will not light your lantern and come!
(Dialect of Shimonoseki.)
Hōchin, Koi!
Hōchin, Koi!
Seki no machi no bon-san ga,
Chōchin tomoshite,
Koi!
Koi!
Firefly, come! firefly, come! All the boys of Seki [want you to come ] with your lantern lighted! Come! come!
Of course, in order to hunt fireflies successfully, it is necessary to know something about their habits; and on this subject Japanese children are probably better informed[1] than a majority of my readers, for whom the following notes may possess a novel interest:—
Fireflies frequent[2] the neighbourhood of water,
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