Read it through once

The Comptroller of the Empress’s household, assisted by several courtiers, now distributed largesse to the boy-dancers on her behalf. To the Birds, cherry-coloured jackets; to the Butterflies, cloaks lined with silk of kerria hue. These were so appropriate that they could hardly have been produced on the spur of the moment, and it almost seemed as though some hint of Murasaki’s intention had reached the Empress’s quarters beforehand. To the musicians were given white, unlined dresses, and presents of silk and cloth according to their rank. Yūgiri received a blue jacket for himself and a lady’s costume for his store-cupboards. He was also charged to carry a reply from the Empress: ‘I could have cried yesterday at missing it all.... But what can I do? I am not my own mistress. “If anything could tempt me to batter down the flowery, eight-fold wall of precedent, it would be the visit of those butterflies who fluttered from your garden into mine.”’