Read it through once

It had not been found convenient to set up the regular Musicians’ Tent; but a platform had been constructed under the portico that ran in front of the Empress’s apartments, and chairs had been borrowed that the musicians might be seated in foreign fashion.[148] The little boys advanced as far as the foot of the steps, their offerings held aloft in their hands. Here they were met by incense-bearers who conveyed the bowls to the grand altar and adding their contents to that of the holy flower-vessels, pronounced the ritual of dedication. At this point Yūgiri arrived, bearing a poem from Murasaki: ‘Lover of Autumn, whom best it pleases that pine-crickets should chirp amid the withered grass, forgive the butterflies that trespass from my garden of flowers.’ The Empress smiled. To her own gift of autumn leaves these Active birds and butterflies were the belated response.