More Portmanteau Plays - novelonlinefull.com
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O-SODE-SAN
What was that, O-Katsu?
O-KATSU-SAN
Someone sighed--a deep, hard sigh.
O-SODE-SAN
Oi! Obaa-San! Grandmother!
[_The sigh is almost a moan._
O-KATSU-SAN
It seemed to come from the weeping willow tree.
O-SODE-SAN
O-Katsu! Perhaps some evil spirit haunts the tree.
O-KATSU-SAN
Some hideous Gaki! Like the Gaki of Kokoru--the evil ghost that can feed only on the unrest of humans. Their unhappiness is his food. He has to find misery in order to live, and win his way back once more to humanity. To different men he changes his shape at will, and sometimes is invisible.
O-SODE-SAN
Quick, Katsu, let us go to the shrine--and pray--and pray.
O-KATSU-SAN
Ay. There!
[_They go out. The Gaki appears._
THE GAKI
Why did you sigh?
THE VOICE OF THE TREE
O Gaki of Kokoru! My heart hangs within me like the weight of years on Obaa-San.
THE GAKI
Why did you moan?
THE TREE
The tree is growing--and it tears my heart.
THE GAKI
I live upon your unrest. Feed me! Feed me!
[_The tree sighs and moans and The Gaki seems transported with joy._
THE TREE
Please! Please! Give me my freedom.
THE GAKI
Where then should I feed? Unless I feed on your unhappiness I should cease to live--and I must live.
THE TREE
Someone else, perchance, may suffer in my stead.
THE GAKI
I care not where or how I feed. I am in the sixth h.e.l.l, and if I die in this shape I must remain in this h.e.l.l through all the eternities. One like me must feed his misery by making others miserable. I can not rise through the other five h.e.l.ls to human life unless I have human misery for my food.
THE TREE
Oh, can't you feed on joy--on happiness, on faith?
THE GAKI
Faith? Yes, perhaps--but only on perfect faith. If I found perfect faith--ah, then--I dare not dream.--There is no faith.
THE TREE
Do not make me suffer more. Let me enjoy the loveliness of things.
THE GAKI
Would you have someone else suffer in your stead?
THE TREE
Someone else--someone else--
THE GAKI
Ay--old Obaa-San--she whom they call the grandmother.
[_The Tree moans._
