so drawn to her when he was able to keep company quite as he wished
with the grandest of ladies, even the empress, women of great beauty and
elegance--and so cold to ordinary femininity that people thought the
matter worth commenting upon--how strange that he should be unable
to pull himself away from this less than remarkable young lady.
The nun sent over greetings; but his men, knowing that there were
matters to conceal, said that he was not feeling well, and was resting. He
had suggested that he wished to meet the girl, thought the nun; and now,
seeing his opportunity, he would be waiting for nightfall. How could she
know that he was even now indulging himself? As always, provisions
came from his manor in numerous hampers and boxes. He had several sent
to the nun, who passed a good portion on to the new arrivals and otherwise
saw to their needs. Putting her dress in order, she presently came to offer
formal greetings. Her dress did indeed suggest "quality," and in her fea-
tures there remained traces of her youthful beauty.
"I was expecting you yesterday. What delayed you?"
"Our lady was so tired you couldn't believe it," said the older woman,
"and we stopped last night by the Kizu ferry. And this morning she took
her time about feeling better."
They awakened her. Shyly, she turned away from the nun, and Kaoru
had a clear view of her face. It was true: he had not been able to examine
Oigimi's features with any great care, but the lines about the eyes, the
flowing hair, were so like hers that he was in tears. The voice was gentle
and well bred, and this time he was reminded astonishingly of Nak-
anokimi.
What a sad life the girl had led! The tragedy was that he had not met
her before. And she was so like her sisters! He would have been drawn to
a girl of low status, a girl from some minor cadet branch of the family, had
he been able to detect such a resemblance; and the girl before him, though
unrecognized, was without doubt the Eighth Prince's own daughter. He
wanted to go in immediately and say to her: "So you were deceiving us.
You are still alive." There had been an emperor across the seas who sent
an emissary to the land of the dead for spangles and bodkins, mementos
of his love; and they had offered little consolation. This lady was, to be
<P 935>
sure, not Oigimi, but it seemed that there might be some lessening of the
pain. A bond from another life had brought them together.
The nun withdrew after a very short interview. The perfume that had
been detected by the women, it would seem, had led her to suspect what
was happening, and rendered conversation difficult.
It was growing dark. Kaoru slipped out and, making himself present-
able, called the nun to her door, slightly open, as always. "How lucky that
I should be here now. You will remember what I asked of you?"
"I had been waiting for an opportunity to tell her of your wishes. And
so last year went by, and then this spring I saw them, mother and daughter,
when they passed through on their way to Hatsuse. I did let drop a hint
to the mother. A very inadequate substitute her daughter would be for our
dead lady, she said. I knew you would be busy, and thought I would wait
for another time, and that is why I did not tell you. Then I heard that she
would be going to Hatsuse again this month. I'm sure she makes a point
of stopping here because of her father. This time something, I don't know
what, kept the mother in the city, and the girl came alone; and so it did
not seem right to tell her about you."
"I didn't want these country people to see me dressed as I am and so
I swore my men to silence. But I know them, and doubt very much if they
will have kept the secret. So what shall we do now? I disagree with you.
I think the very fact that she is alone makes things easier. Tell her, if you
will, please, that there must be a bond between us. How else are we to
account for this meeting?"
"A most convenient bond, appearing for us straight from the blue."
She smiled. "I will tell her." And she went inside.
"I had heard the call of that strange and lovely bird,
And parted the grasses, hoping to find its kin."
It was a poem that he whispered as if to himself; but she took it in
to the lady.
<W Murasaki Shikibu>{Translated by Edward G.Seidensticker}
<T The Tale of Genji>
<K 6>
<C 50>{The Eastern Cottage}
<N 1>
<P 936>
Mount Tsukuba beckoned, there in Hitachi, but Kaoru hesitated to ap-
proach even the verdant foothills. He had his good name to think of. It
would be indiscreet even to write to the girl. Though from time to time
the nun Bennokimi gave the girl's mother a hint of what he had said, the
mother found it hard to believe that his intentions were serious. She was
glad that he had noticed the girl, but she was aware of his exalted rank;
and she could only lament that their own was not high enough to make
a match possible.
<N 2>
The governor had numerous children by a former wife, now dead. By
his present wife he had a daughter who was known as Himegimi, much
pampered, and five or six other children, all of them very young. His
affections monopolized by the others, he tended to treat the Eighth Prince's
daughter, Ukifune, like an outsider. The mother greatly resented this
<P 937>
partiality, and the thought never left her mind of shaming them all by
finding a splendid husband for the girl. She would not have fretted so had
Ukifune been no prettier than the others--she was, after all, legally the
governor's daughter. But her beauty and grace were more pronounced as
she grew older. How deplorable, thought the mother, that they should go
unnoticed.
Aware that the family was well supplied with daughters, several men
from the ranks of the petty nobility had indicated an interest in one or
another of them. Even now, with two or three of the older girls already
married, the governor's wife refused to abandon her high hopes for Uki-
fune, who was the center of her life.
<N 3>
The governor could not have been called a man of low estate. He
numbered among his relatives several high courtiers. Being a man of con-
siderable private wealth, he indulged himself as his status allowed, and
presided over an orderly and not at all vulgar household. A strangely
coarse and rustic manner, however, belied these tasteful surroundings.
Probably because he had long been buried in the remote East Country, he
was incapable of uttering a syllable that struck the cultivated ear as correct.
Aware of this defect, he kept his distance from higher circles at court, and
koto, but he was an expert archer. Numbers of well-favored women,
indeed women rather too good for such a household, had been pulled into
its service by the power of money. In dress they were excessively modish,
and they wrote bad poetry and fiction and otherwise sought to cultivate
the skills that see one through the Ko~shin vigil.
This noisy way of life came to be noticed, and Ukifune acquired a
certain vogue among the young gallants. They assumed her to be an
accomplished young lady, and very pretty as well. Among those who had
thrown themselves into the competition for her hand was a certain guards
lieutenant. In his early twenties, he was a quiet man who was reputed to
have a scholarly bent. He was unable to hold his own in the world of high
fashion, and perhaps for this reason had given up his pursuit of other
women and commenced paying ardent court to Ukifune. Her mother had
decided that he was the most promising of her suitors. He was an honora-
ble man, she said, and a man of discrimination. Though not inexperienced
in amorous matters, he was no philanderer. And beautiful though the girl
was, she was not likely to attract anyone better.
<N 4>
The mother accepted his letters, and on suitable occasions had the girl
send friendly replies. As far as _she_ was concerned, everything was settled.
The governor might favor the other girls, but she herself was prepared to
sacrifice everything for Ukifune. There was not the slightest chance, once
the lieutenant had laid eyes on her, that he would spurn her because of
<P 938>
her low rank. It was presently agreed that the marriage would take place
in the Eighth Month. The mother began putting a trousseau together.
When some trifle, some little piece of lacquer or inlay, would catch her eye
for its high quality and good design, she would put it aside for Ukifune,
commending to the governor's attention, for the use of his other daughters,
something altogether inferior. He was no judge in these matters, but he
collected indefatigably, until they were barely able to see out over the
mountains of gimcrackery. A teacher was summoned from the palace to
give them lute and koto lessons, and when he had seen them safely
through a piece the governor would kowtow with gratitude and bury the
man in gifts. On a pleasant evening he would have them at a lively strain,
and the effusions with which the governor greeted the performance were
quite deafening. Knowing what was good and what was not, his wife
would look on contemptuously and refuse to join in the paeans. She might
make note now and then, he was constantly saying, that his girl s had their
good points too.
<N 5>
The lieutenant was becoming impatient. Must they wait until the
Eighth Month? But the governor's wife was beginning to have second
thoughts. Perhaps she should have consulted her husband--and was she
quite sure she could trust the man?
The intermediary stopped by one day.
"I have so many things to worry about," said the mother, calling him
aside. "It's a long time to wait, I know, and I wouldn't want to seem rude,
putting off such an important gentleman. And of course everything _is_
decided. But she has no father to look after her, and I have had to do
everything myself. I would hate to have him think I have mismanaged
things. All the others have someone to look after them, and I don't worry
a great deal about them. But this one--what will happen to her when I am
gone? I have not set any conditions, because everyone says he is a gentle-
man of understanding. But sometimes a person _will_ wonder, you know.
Might he have a change of heart and leave the poor girl for people to laugh
at?"
The intermediary passed all of this on to the lieutenant. A look of
consternation came over his face.
"You mean she's not the governor's daughter? The first I'd heard of
it. You may say she's his stepdaughter and that's just as good, but I'd be
lowering myself before the whole world. It won't do. Thank you for not
looking into things before you came to me. Thank you very much indeed."
"I swear I didn't know," said the intermediary, guiltily. "Someone at
my place told me what you had said. Seeing that she was the favorite, I
naturally assumed she was his daughter. I didn't think to ask whether he
had a stepdaughter. I hadn't heard anything even suggesting it. I _had_ heard
that she was beautiful and well behaved, and that her mother couldn't do
enough for her and was set on getting her a really good husband.
You said you wanted a go-between. Well, I was your man, and
<P 939>
I told you so--and how was I to guess that you didn't know all about her?
I don't think you have any right to call me careless."
He was a crafty man, and a good talker.
The lieutenant's reply was not very elegant. "It's not a family a man
would want to marry into for what it is. I'm just doing what all the others
do, and no one can blame me for it. I thought that if I could get the
governor of Hitachi behind me I might overlook a few other details. He
may think of her as no different from his own daughters, but people will
say that it doesn't seem to matter to me what I get. The Minamoto council-
lor and the governor of Sanuki strut in and out of the house, and how
would I feel, the last and smallest in the whole long line?"
<N 6>
The intermediary was an unprincipled man. He was sorry for what
had happened, because he had expected favors from both sides.
"You want one of the governor's own daughters, then? They're still
very young, but maybe I could tell him. The next-oldest they call
Himegimi. I hear she's his favorite."
<P 940>
"Well--it might not seem very nice just to drop the poor girl and ask
for another, now that I've gone this far. But let me tell you how I really
feel. I got into this because the governor is a man of substance who handles
himself well, and I wanted his backing. That's all. I don't ask for beauty
or superior morals. It wouldn't be any trouble at all to find that sort of
thing, and good manners and a good family to boot. But a poor man who
marries a girl with tastes beyond his means is asking for trouble, and can't
expect much praise from the world. No, I've seen enough examples of that
sort of thing, and I think I'd be willing to put up with a little roughness
for a safe, dependable marriage. If you tell the governor how I feel and if
he feels the same, I don't see how anyone could object."
<N 7>
The intermediary had undertaken the assignment because he had a
sister in the west wing of the governor's mansion. He was not personally
acquainted with the governor. He marched directly into the governor,s
quarters all the same.
"There is something we ought to discuss."
"I'd heard about you and your visits." The governor's manner was not
friendly. "But I don't recall ever inviting you."
"I am here at the request of the guards lieutenant."
The governor consented to an interview. The man edged closer, as if
