 The ending has been called "surprisingly dark" by "The Princeton Companion to Classical Japanese Literature", although it does not expand on this line of thought.Gatten describes the ending as being happy, and "The Companion" notes that the former Chūnagon achieves great things as Empress, as the Yoshino Prince predicted.The many children of the siblings at the tale's close, noted in the "Mumyōzōshi", are seen as a sign that all is as it should be.