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Page 39
(For everything appeared so real that he had almost ceased to think of
the illusion woven around him.)
She answered, in a voice like a dove's voice:--
"My august lord and husband, it was at the temple of Ishiyama, where
I went with my foster-mother, that I saw you for the first time. And
because of seeing you, the world became changed to me from that hour
and moment. But you do not remember, because our meeting was not in
this, your present life: it was very, very long ago. Since that time
you have passed through many deaths and births, and have had many
comely bodies. But I have remained always that which you see me now:
I could not obtain another body, nor enter into another state of
existence, because of my great wish for you. My dear lord and husband,
I have waited for you through many ages of men."
And the bridegroom felt nowise afraid at hearing these strange words,
but desired nothing more in life, or in all his lives to come, than to
feel her arms about him, and to hear the caress of her voice.
* * * * *
But the pealing of a temple-bell proclaimed the coming of dawn. Birds
began to twitter; a morning breeze set all the trees a-whispering.
Suddenly the old nurse pushed apart the sliding screens of the
bridal-chamber, and exclaimed:--
"My children, it is time to separate! By daylight you must not be
together, even for an instant: that were fatal! You must bid each
other good-by."
Without a word, It[=o] made ready to depart. He vaguely understood
the warning uttered, and resigned himself wholly to destiny. His will
belonged to him no more; he desired only to please his shadowy bride.
She placed in his hands a little _suzuri_, or ink-stone, curiously
carved, and said:--
"My young lord and husband is a scholar; therefore this small gift
will probably not be despised by him. It is of strange fashion because
it is old, having been augustly bestowed upon my father by the favor
of the Emperor Takakura. For that reason only, I thought it to be a
precious thing."
It[=o], in return, besought her to accept for a remembrance the
_k[=o]gai_[75] of his sword, which were decorated with inlaid work of
silver and gold, representing plum-flowers and nightingales.
[Footnote 75: This was the name given to a pair of metal rods attached
to a sword-sheath, and used like chop-sticks. They were sometimes
exquisitely ornamented.]
Then the little _miya-dzukai_ came to guide him through the garden,
and his bride with her foster-mother accompanied him to the threshold.
As he turned at the foot of the steps to make his parting salute, the
old woman said:--
"We shall meet again the next Year of the Boar, at the same hour of
the same day of the same month that you came here. This being the Year
of the Tiger, you will have to wait ten years. But, for reasons which
I must not say, we shall not be able to meet again in this place;
we are going to the neighborhood of Ky[=o]to, where the good Emperor
Takakura and our fathers and many of our people are dwelling. All the
H��k� will be rejoiced by your coming. We shall send a _kago_[76] for
you on the appointed day."
[Footnote 76: A kind of palanquin.]
* * * * *
Above the village the stars were burning as It[=o] passed the gate;
but on reaching the open road he saw the dawn brightening beyond
leagues of silent fields. In his bosom he carried the gift of his
bride. The charm of her voice lingered in his ears,--and nevertheless,
had it not been for the memento which he touched with questioning
fingers, he could have persuaded himself that the memories of the
night were memories of sleep, and that his life still belonged to him.
But the certainty that he had doomed himself evoked no least regret:
he was troubled only by the pain of separation, and the thought of the
seasons that would have to pass before the illusion could be renewed
for him. Ten years!--and every day of those years would seem how long!
The mystery of the delay he could not hope to solve; the secret ways
of the dead are known to the gods alone.
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