In her nervousness, Princess Terute mixed up the two wine bottles.
As a result of this her own son ended up drinking the poisoned wine.
The doctors of the court tried their best to save the child. But nothing could be done.
The doctors thought that the wine had disagreed with the boy, causing convulsions.
Thus Princess Terute was punished for her wickedness and she lost her own child.
Instead of learning her lesson Princess Terute hated Hase-Hime even more. She waited for an opportunity to do irrevocable harm to Hase-Hime.
When Hase-Hime was thirteen years old, she had already become a great poet and everyone acknowledged it.
In the rainy season the waters of the flood rose every day.
The river Tatsuta, which flowed from the emperor's palace, was overflowing from its banks.
It so happened that the roaring of the river disturbed the emperor day and night and he was unable to sleep and because of this the emperor had a nervous disorder.
The emperor sent an order all over the kingdom to get someone to stop the roaring of the river but to no avail.
It was spoken in the court that long ago a beautiful and gifted maiden who had moved the Heaven by praying and brought down rain on a famished land. The people in the court went and told the Emperor that if Princess Hase-Hime were to write a poem and offer it as a prayer, the roaring sounds of the waters would decrease.
When the emperor heard these words. he ordered Prince Tayonari to bring his daughter to the court.
When Hase-Hime heard the emperor's words she was shocked.
But she wrote her poem on a leaflet of paper flecked with gold dust.
She went to the bank of the roaring river and read the poem.
On hearing her words, the water level decreased.
After that even the Emperor got back his health.
Adapted from Japanese Folk Tales
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