Read it through once

It was not likely that Murasaki, who passed such biting judgments on her companions, would herself escape criticism. In her diary she tells us the following anecdote: ‘There is a certain lady here called Sayemon no Naishi who has evidently taken a great dislike to me, though I have only just become aware of it. It seems that behind my back she is always saying the most unpleasant things. One day when some one had been reading _The Tale of Genji_ out loud to the Emperor, his Majesty said: “This lady has certainly been reading the Annals of Japan. She must be terribly learned.” Upon the strength of this casual remark Naishi spread a report all over the Court that I prided myself on my enormous learning, and henceforth I was known as “Dame Annals” wherever I went.’