Japanese Literature Part 7

"But," said the boy, "he does not expect such an answer as this! How can I tell him so?"

At first, she half-resolved to explain everything to Kokimi, and to make him thoroughly understand why she ought not to receive such letters, but the effort was too painful, so she simply said, "It is all the better for you not to talk in that way. If you think it so serious why should you go to him at all?"

"Yet, how can I disobey his commands to go back?" exclaimed the boy, and so he returned to Genji without any written answer to him.

"I was weary of waiting for you. Perhaps you, too, had forgotten me,"

said Genji, when he saw the boy, who was, however, silent and blushed.

"And what answer have you brought me?" continued Genji, and then the boy replied in the exact words which his sister had used.

"What?" cried Genji: and continued, "Perhaps you may not know, so I will tell you. I knew your sister before she knew Iyo. But she likes to treat me so because she thinks she has got a very good friend in Iyo; but do you be like a brother to me. The days of Iyo will be probably fewer than mine."

He now returned to the Palace taking Komini with him, and, going to his dressing-room, attired him nicely in the Court style; in a word, he treated him as a parent would do.

By the boy's a.s.sistance several more letters were conveyed to his sister. Her resolution, however, remained unshaken.

"If one's heart were once to deviate from the path," she reflected, "the only end we could expect would be a damaged reputation and misery for life: the good and the bad result from one's self!"

Thus thinking, she resolved to return no answer. She might, indeed, have admired the person of Genji, and probably did so, yet, whenever such feelings came into her mind, the next thought that suggested itself was, "What is the use of such idle admiration?"

Meanwhile, Genji was often thinking of paying a visit to the house where she was staying, but he did not consider it becoming to do so, without some reasonable pretext, more especially as he would have been sorry, and for her sake more than his own, to draw a suspicion upon her.

It happened, however, after a prolonged residence at the Court, that another occasion of closing the Palace in the certain celestial line of direction arrived. Catching at this opportunity he left the Palace, and suddenly turning out of his road, went straight to Ki-no-Kami's residence, with the excuse that he had just discovered the above fact on his way. Ki-no-Kami surprised at this unexpected visit, had only to bow before him, and acknowledge the honor of his presence. The boy, Kokimi, was already there before him, having been secretly informed of his intention beforehand, and he attended on him as usual in his apartment on his arrival.

The lady, who had been told by her brother that the Prince earnestly desired to see her, knew well how dangerous it was to approach an inviting flower growing on the edge of a precipice. She was not, of course, insensible to his coming in such a manner, with an excuse for the sake of seeing her, but she did not wish to increase her dreamlike inquietude by seeing him. And again, if he ventured to visit her apartment, as he did before, it might be a serious compromise for her.

For these reasons she retired while her brother was with Genji, to a private chamber of Chiujio, her companion, in the rear of the main building, under the pretence that her own room was too near that of the Prince, besides she was indisposed and required "Tataki,"[49]

which she desired to have done in a retired part of the house.

Genji sent his attendants very early to their own quarters, and then, through Kokimi, requested an interview with the lady. Kokimi at first was unable to find her, till after searching everywhere, he, at last, came to the apartment of Chiujio, and with great earnestness endeavored to persuade her to see Genji, in an anxious and half trembling voice, while she replied in a tone slightly angry, "What makes you so busy? Why do you trouble yourself? Boys carrying such messages are highly blamable."

After thus daunting him, she added, more mildly, "Tell the Prince I am somewhat indisposed, and also that some friends are with me, and I cannot well leave them now." And she again cautioned the boy not to be too officious, and sent him away from her at once.

Yet, at the bottom of her heart, different feelings might have been struggling from those which her words seemed to express, and some such thoughts as these shaped themselves to her mind: "Were I still a maiden in the home of my beloved parents, and occasionally received his visits there, how happy might I not be? How trying to act as if no romantic sentiment belonged to my heart!"

Genji, who was anxiously waiting to know how the boy would succeed in persuading his sister, was soon told that all his efforts were in vain. Upon hearing this he remained for some moments silent, and then relieved his feelings with a long-drawn sigh, and hummed:--

"The Hahaki-gi[50] distant tree Spreads broom-like o'er the silent waste; Approach, how changed its shape we see, In vain we try its shade to taste."

The lady was unable to sleep, and her thoughts also took the following poetic shape:--

Too like the Hahaki-gi tree, Lonely and humble, I must dwell, Nor dare to give a thought to thee, But only sigh a long farewell.

All the other inmates of the house were now in a sound slumber, but sleep came not to Genji's eyes. He did, indeed, admire her immovable and chaste nature, but this only drew his heart more towards her. He was agitated. At one moment he cried, "Well, then!" at another, "However!" "Still!" At last, turning to the boy, he pa.s.sionately exclaimed, "Lead me to her at once!"

Kokimi calmly replied, "It is impossible, too many eyes are around us!"

Genji with a sigh then threw himself back on the cushion, saying to Kokimi, "You, at least, will be my friend, and shall share my apartment!"

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 22: A hero of an older fiction, who is represented as the perfect ideal of a gallant.]

[Footnote 23: A fast observed when some remarkable or supernatural event took place, or on the anniversary of days of domestic misfortune.]

[Footnote 24: A general of the Imperial Guards.]

[Footnote 25: Love letters generally are not signed or are signed with a fancy name.]

[Footnote 26: Left Master of the Horse.]

[Footnote 27: Secretary to the Master of Ceremonies.]

[Footnote 28: Deputy-governors of provinces. In those days these functionaries were greatly looked down upon by the Court n.o.bles, and this became one of the causes of the feudal system.]

[Footnote 29: The naoshi is an outer attire. It formed part of a loose and unceremonious Court dress.]

[Footnote 30: This alludes to a common habit of women, who push back their hair before commencing any task.]

[Footnote 31: Some kinds of nuns did not shave their heads, and this remark seems to allude to the common practice of women who often involuntarily smooth their hair before they see people, which practice comes, no doubt, from the idea that the beauty of women often depends on the tidiness of their hair.]

[Footnote 32: This means that her soul, which was sinful, would not go at once to its final resting-place, but wander about in unknown paths.]

[Footnote 33: A mountain spoken of in Chinese literature. It was said to be in the Eastern Ocean, and people of extraordinary long lives, called Sennin, were supposed to dwell there.]

[Footnote 34: In China and j.a.pan handwriting is considered no less an art than painting.]

[Footnote 35: An ideal woman patroness of the art of dyeing.]

[Footnote 36: The weaver, or star Vega. In the Chinese legend she is personified as a woman always engaged in weaving.]

[Footnote 37: In the same legend, it is said that this weaver, who dwells on one side of the Milky Way in the heavens, meets her lover--another star called Hikoboshi, or the bull-driver--once every year, on the evening of the seventh day of the seventh month. He dwelt on the other side of the Milky Way, and their meeting took place on a bridge, made by birds (jays), by the intertwining of their wings. It was this which gave rise to the popular festival, which takes place on this day, both in China and j.a.pan.]

[Footnote 38: Little darlings--a kind of pink.]

[Footnote 39: The Tokonatz (everlasting summer) is another name for the pink, and it is poetically applied to the lady whom we love.]

[Footnote 40: A female divinity in Indian mythology.]

[Footnote 41: From the Chinese poet Hak-rak-ten, who was mentioned before. He says in one of his poems: "Once upon a time a certain host invited to his abode a clever match-maker. When the guests were a.s.sembled he poured forth wine into a beautiful jar, and said to all present, 'drink not for a moment, but hear what I say about the two choices, daughters of the rich get married soon, but snub their husbands, daughters of the poor get married with difficulty but dearly love their mothers-in-law.'"]

[Footnote 42: A soft style of j.a.panese writing commonly used by ladies.]

[Footnote 43: A stiff and formal style of j.a.panese writing.]

[Footnote 44: The fifth of May is one of the five important national festivals. A solemn celebration of this fete used to be performed at Court. It is sometimes called the festival of the "Sweet Flags,"--_calami aromatici_--because it was held at the season when those beautiful water-plants were in the height of perfection.]

[Footnote 45: Another of the five above-mentioned. It was held on the ninth of September, and it was customary on the occasion for rhymes to be given out to those present, wherewith to compose Chinese poems. It was sometimes called the "Chrysanthemum Festival," for the same reason that the celebration of the fifth of May was termed the "Sweet Flag Festival."]