Chapter III

Would there be much to gather? For the spring
Is very early yet--and young shoots hide.

SPIRIT

“The spring-time comes, but as I see the snow
Upon the plain, I think of the old year.”[19]
The young green shoots of this year still are few
So we must gather those with older leaves.

CHORUS

And yet, although the leaves are old and sere
The young green shoots are fresh as the new year.
Guard then thyself, thou field of the young spring!

SPIRIT

To the field of spring,
To the field of spring,
To pluck violets
He came, and then
Only purple leaves
Of the weeds culled he
Who came gathering.

CHORUS

Ah, yes, the colour of affinity[20]
Has brought to my sad thought the memory
Of Love’s light bridge which was asunder torn.[21]

SPIRIT

The aged stems of plants once gone to seed
In Sano district still may sprout again,

CHORUS

And their green colour will be purple dyed.

SPIRIT

The Shepherd’s Purse of Chōan--[22]

CHORUS

And the hot shepherd’s purse, a useless thing,
And other herbs white rooted, like the dawn,[23]
Which, hidden by the snow we may mistake
And gather in the place of those we want.

CHORUS

The morning breeze in Ono still is cold
The lower branches of the pine trees still
Are weighted down with snow. Where hides the spring
We cannot tell. And though the river breeze
Blows cold, our billowing sleeves are colder far.
Let us go home, although we leave unplucked
Some of the young green shoots, let us go home.

PRIEST

Now there is something I would speak of unto thee if thou permittest--
All the maidens who were gathering the young greens have departed
Save thyself, and wherefore then art thou alone remaining with me?

SPIRIT

For the Maiden’s Tomb but just now thou didst ask me. I will show
thee.

PRIEST

Yes, indeed, I do desire to see it and I pray thee show me.

SPIRIT

This way honourably follow. And the Maiden’s Tomb is this!

PRIEST

What its history, and why then, is the Maiden’s Tomb so calléd?
Pray minutely tell the story.

SPIRIT

Then will I the tale unfold.
Once upon a time a maiden who was called Unai did live here,
And two men there were, called Chinu and Sasada, and they loved her.
And to her upon the same day, in the same hour, both declaring
Fervent love, they sent two letters. But she thought that if she
yielded
Unto one, the other’s anger would be deep, and so to neither
Would she yield (and then her father said the truest shot should
win her).
But upon Ikuta’s river did the two men’s flying arrows
Pierce together but one water-fowl, and pierce the selfsame wing.

And then I thought, how cruel now I am.[24]
The wild fowl’s troth, though plighted deep and true
Is broken for me, and the happy pair--
Mandarin ducks--for my poor sake must bear
The pain of separation. Piteous!
So, with my life dismayed, I’d throw myself
Into Ikuta river’s flowing tide[25]
Here in the land of Tsu. Ikuta stands
Merely a name to such a one as I.

CHORUS

These were her last words, as she took her way
Into the river’s water. When they found
They buried her beneath this mound of clay.
Then the two men, her lovers, came to seek
Her tomb. No longer will we live, they said,
And like the stream of Ikuta, the tide
Of their remorse rose up. Each with his sword
Ended the other’s life.

And that was too my sin! That too my sin!
What can become of such a one, so full
Of sins? I pray thee therefore give me help!
So saying ’neath the tomb once more she sank
Yea, down beneath the tomb once more she sank.

[_Ghost of UNAI appears_]

PRIEST

Short as a young stag’s horns in summer time[26]
The night of sleep! The weeds grow on her tomb,
And from their shade appears again the ghost.
I’ll raise the voice of prayer. “Thou spirit soul,
Awake thyself to understanding true,
Enter Nirvana casting off from thee
Delusions of thy life and of thy death.”[27]

GHOST

Oh, the wide field, how desolate it is--
My own deserted tomb and nothing else!
Only wild beasts contending for the dead
Which come and go in gloom, and o’er the tomb
The watching spirits flying in the wind
That circling ever beats upon the pines.
The heaven’s lightening, and the morning dew
Are still before my eyes, and symbolise
The world of Earth, as transient as they.
How many of the lonely tombs are those
Of Youth, whose lives are so unlike the name
Of Ikuta, so-called the field of life.

CHORUS

A man comes from the world I left long since.
How thankful am I. ’Tis the voice of prayer!

CHORUS

I

O human world. How much I long for thee.