The ninth vibration and other stories Part 26

"Why have I not wedded? Because I have desired a bride beyond the women of earth, and of none such as I desire has the rumor reached me.

Consider that Ancestor who wedded Her Shining Majesty! Evil and lovely was she, and the pa.s.sions were loud about her. And so it is with women.

Trouble and vexation of spirit, or instead a great weariness. But if the Blessed One would vouchsafe to my prayers a maiden of blossom and dew, with a heart calm as moonlight, her would I wed. O, honorable One, whose wisdom surveys the world, is there in any place near or far--in heaven or in earth, such a one that I may seek and find?"

And Semimaru, still making a very low music on his biwa, said this;

"Supreme Master, where the Shiobara River breaks away through the gorges to the sea, dwelt a poor couple--the husband a wood-cutter. They had no children to aid in their toil, and daily the woman addressed her prayers for a son to the Bodhisattwa Kwannon, the Lady of Pity who looketh down for ever upon the sound of prayer. Very fervently she prayed, with such offerings as her poverty allowed, and on a certain night she dreamed this dream. At the shrine of the Senju Kwannon she knelt as was her custom, and that Great Lady, sitting enthroned upon the Lotos of Purity, opened Her eyes slowly from Her divine contemplation and heard the prayer of the wood-cutter's wife. Then stooping like a blown willow branch, she gathered a bud from the golden lotos plant that stood upon her altar, and breathing upon it it became pure white and living, and it exhaled a perfume like the flowers of Paradise, This flower the Lady of Pity flung into the bosom of her pet.i.tioner, and closing Her eyes returned into Her divine dream, whilst the woman awoke, weeping for joy.

"But when she sought in her bosom for the Lotos it was gone. Of all this she boasted loudly to her folk and kin, and the more so, when in due time she perceived herself to be with child, for, from that august favour she looked for nothing less than a son, radiant with the Five Ornaments of riches, health, longevity, beauty, and success. Yet, when her hour was come, a girl was born, and blind."

"Was she welcomed?" asked the dreaming voice of the Emperor.

"Augustness, but as a household drudge. For her food was cruelty and her drink tears. And the shrine of the Senju Kwannon was neglected by her parents because of the disappointment and shame of the unwanted gift.

And they believed that, lost in Her divine contemplation, the Great Lady would not perceive this neglect. The G.o.ds however are known by their great memories."

"Her name?"

"Majesty, Tsuyu-Morning Dew. And like the morning dew she shines in stillness. She has repaid good for evil to her evil parents, serving them with unwearied service."

"What distinguishes her from others?"

"Augustness, a very great peace. Doubtless the shadow of the dream of the Holy Kwannon. She works, she moves, she smiles as one who has tasted of content."

"Has she beauty?"

"Supreme Master, am I not blind? But it is said that she has no beauty that men should desire her. Her face is flat and round, and her eyes blind."

"And yet content?"

"Philosophers might envy her calm. And her blindness is without doubt a grace from the excelling Pity, for could she see her own exceeding ugliness she must weep for shame. But she sees not. Her sight is inward, and she is well content."

"Where does she dwell?"

"Supreme Majesty, far from here--where in the heart of the woods the river breaks through the rocks."

"Venerable One, why have you told me this? I asked for a royal maiden wise and beautiful, calm as the dawn, and you have told me of a wood-cutter's drudge, blind and ugly."

And now Semimaru did not answer, but the tones of the biwa grew louder and clearer, and they rang like a song of triumph, and the Emperor could hear these words in the voice of the strings.

"She is beautiful as the night, crowned with moon and stars for him who has eyes to see. Princess Splendour was dim beside her; Prince Fireshine, gloom! Her Shining Majesty was but a darkened glory before this maid. All beauty shines within her hidden eyes."

And having uttered this the music became wordless once more, but it still flowed on more and more softly like a river that flows into the far distance.

The Emperor stared at the mats, musing--the light of the lamp was burning low. His heart said within him;

"This maiden, cast like a flower from the hand of Kwannon Sama, will I see."

And as he said this the music had faded away into a thread-like smallness, and when after long thought he raised his august head, he was alone save for the Dainagon, sleeping on the mats behind him, and the chamber was in darkness. Semimaru had departed in silence, and His Majesty, looking forth into the broad moonlight, could see the track of his feet upon the shining snow, and the music came back very thinly like spring rain in the trees. Once more he looked at the whiteness of the night, and then, stretching his august person on the mats, he slept amid dreams of sweet sound.

The next day, forbidding any to follow save the Dainagon, His Majesty went forth upon the frozen snow where the sun shone in a blinding whiteness. They followed the track of Semimaru's feet far under the pine trees so heavy with their load of snow that they were bowed as if with fruit. And the track led on and the air was so still that the cracking of a bough was like the blow of a hammer, and the sliding of a load of snow from a branch like the fall of an avalanche. Nor did they speak as they went. They listened, nor could they say for what.

Then, when they had gone a very great way, the track ceased suddenly, as if cut off, and at this spot, under the pines furred with snow, His Majesty became aware of a perfume so sweet that it was as though all the flowers of the earth haunted the place with their presence, and a music like the biwa of Semimaru was heard in the tree tops. This sounded far off like the whispering of rain when it falls in very small leaves, and presently it died away, and a voice followed after, singing, alone in the woods, so that the silence appeared to have been created that such a music might possess the world. So the Emperor stopped instantly, and the Dainagon behind him and he heard these words.

"In me the Heavenly Lotos grew, The fibres ran from head to feet, And my heart was the august Blossom.

Therefore the sweetness flowed through the veins of my flesh, And I breathed peace upon all the world, And about me was my fragrance shed That the souls of men should desire me."

Now, as he listened, there came through the wood a maiden, bare--footed, save for gra.s.s sandals, and clad in coa.r.s.e clothing, and she came up and pa.s.sed them, still singing.

And when she was past, His Majesty put up his hand to his eyes, like one dreaming, and said;

"What have you seen?"

And the Dainagon answered;

"Augustness, a country wench, flat--faced, ugly and blind, and with a voice like a crow. Has not your Majesty seen this?"

The Emperor, still shading his eyes, replied;

"I saw a maiden so beautiful that her Shining Majesty would be a black blot beside her. As she went, the Spring and all its sweetness blew from her garments. Her robe was green with small gold flowers. Her eyes were closed, but she resembled a cherry tree, snowy with bloom and dew. Her voice was like the singing flowers of Paradise."

The Dainagon looked at him with fear and compa.s.sion;

"Augustness, how should such a lady carry in her arms a bundle of firewood?"

"She bore in her hands three lotos flowers, and where each foot fell I saw a lotos bloom and vanish."

They retraced their steps through the wood; His Majesty radiant as Prince Fireshine with the joy that filled his soul; the Dainagon darkened as Prince Firefade with fear, believing that the strange music of Semimaru had bewitched His Majesty, or that the maiden herself might possibly have the power of the fox in shape-changing and bewildering the senses.

Very sorrowful and careful was his heart for he loved his Master.

That night His Majesty dreamed that he stood before the kakemono of the Amida Buddha, and that as he raised his eyes in adoration to the Blessed Face, he beheld the images of Fugen and Fudo, rise up and bow down before that One Who Is. Then, gliding in, before these Holinesses stood a figure, and it was the wood-cutter's daughter homely and blinded. She stretched her hands upward as though invoking the supreme Buddha, and then turning to His Majesty she smiled upon him, her eyes closed as in bliss unutterable. And he said aloud.

"Would that I might see her eyes!" and so saying awoke in a great stillness of snow and moonlight.

Having waked, he said within himself

"This marvel will I wed and she shall be my Empress were she lower than the Eta, and whether her face be lovely or homely. For she is certainly a flower dropped from the hand of the Divine."

So when the sun was high His Majesty, again followed by the Dainagon, went through the forest swiftly, and like a man that sees his goal, and when they reached the place where the maiden went by, His Majesty straitly commanded the Dainagon that he should draw apart, and leave him to speak with the maiden; yet that he should watch what befell.

So the Dainagon watched, and again he saw her come, very poorly clad, and with bare feet that shrank from the snow in her gra.s.s sandals, bowed beneath a heavy load of wood upon her shoulders, and her face flat and homely like a girl of the people, and her eyes blind and shut.

And as she came she sang this.

"The Eternal way lies before him, The way that is made manifest in the Wise.

The Heart that loves reveals itself to man.

For now he draws nigh to the Source.

The night advances fast, And lo! the moon shines bright."