This country, that country
1.
Takako read “This Country, That Country” in the Sankei Daily Times a
second and even a third time on the eve of Culture Day, which is to say on
November second. The column printed curious and interesting articles
about occurrences abroad, more like stories or seeds of stories than hard
news.
The previous day’s edition had given rather extensive coverage to an
announcement made by England’s Princess Margaret, in which she had said
that she would not marry Group Captain Townshend after all. It was only
natural that one of the stories in today’s “This Country, That Country”
should concern the princess’s love affair:
One often comes across mounds of stones in the Scottish highlands. In
the past, these mounds were erected in memory of heroes who fell in battle,
but now it’s said that lovers who add stones to these mounds achieve
“eternal love.” Four years ago, at a time when Princess Margaret and Group
Captain Townshend were both staying in Balmoral, they placed a stone on a
mound located in the middle of an overgrown field some three miles
outside of town, swore their love for one another, and by this act leapt
instantly into fame. The princess’s love affair has now ended.
There was a picture of the mound at the end of the article. Its size could
be estimated from the size of the people who stood around it—the pile
itself was almost as tall as a man, and the individual stones that formed it
were a good deal larger than a person’s head. A few stones were as wide
across as a person’s shoulders.
Of course it was impossible to tell which of the stones the princess and
the group captain had placed on the pile, but none looked as though the
