The aunt sent another plausible note. "Please do make up your mind
and come with us. The poet said that in bad times a person wants a trip
to the mountains. Nothing very dreadful is going to happen to you if you
come with us."
The princess was the despair of her women. "Why will she not listen?
She doesn't know which way to turn, and yet she manages to go on being
stubborn. How can you account for it?"
Jiju~ had been successfully wooed by a nephew, perhaps it was, of the
new assistant viceroy. Her bridegroom would not dream of leaving her,
and so, reluctantly, she determined to go. She pleaded with her lady to go
too. It would be a terrible worry, she said, if her lady were to stay behind
all alone. But the princess still put her faith in Genji, who had neglected
her for so long. The years might pass, she told herself, but the day would
come when he would remember her. He had made such affectionate,
earnest promises, and though it now seemed her fate to have been forgot-
ten, it would not always be so. He would one day have, upon some wind,
tidings of her, and when he did he would come to her. So she had made
her way through the weeks and months. Though her mansion fell into
deeper ruin, she resolutely clung to her treasures, and insisted on living as
<P 295>
she always had. The world seemed darker and darker, and she wept and
wept, and her nose was as if someone had affixed a bright berry to it. As
for her profile, only someone with more than ordinary affection for her
could have borne to look at it. But I shall not go into the details. I am a
charitable person, and would not wish for the world to seem malicious.
<N 7>
Winter came and the days passed in forlorn procession. The lady had
literally nothing to cling to. Genji commissioned a reading of the Lotus
Sutra which was the talk of the court. Making it known that he would
have no ordinary clerics among the officiants, he summoned venerable and
erudite sages who could be counted on to know what to do. Among them
was the brother of the safflower princess.
On his return to the monastery he came by to see his sister. "It was
all very grand, so lavish and in such impeccable taste that it made one think
that the Pure Land had come down to this world. Genji must be an incarna-
tion of a Blessed One or perhaps a messiah even. How can such a man have
been born into this world of sin and corruption?" And he was on his way.
They were an unusually taciturn brother and sister, unable to ex-
change the most idle remarks. Yet his words had made an impression. A
<P 296 >
Blessed One, a messiah, indeed! A fine messiah, taking no notice at all of
her misery and peril. She understood at last. She would never see him
again.
The aunt came busily in upon the worst of the gloom. Although she
had not been close to the princess, she came laden with gifts, hoping that
even now she might lure the princess off to the provinces. Her carriage a
grand one, she came quite without forewarning, obviously satisfied with
the course her career was taking. She was shocked at the desolation that
lay before her. The gates were coming unhinged and leaning precariously,
and resisted all the grunting efforts to open them. Even the "three
paths" had disappeared in the undergrowth. The carriage forced its way
to a raised shutter at the south front. The princess, though offended, had
Jiju~ receive the visitor from behind yellowing curtains. The years were
catching up with Jiju~. She was thin and dispirited. She still retained enough
of her old elegance, however, that the aunt, inappropriate though it would
of course have been to say so, would have preferred having her for a niece.
"So I am off, and I must leave you to this. I have come for Jiju~. I know
that you dislike me and would not consider making a trip around the
corner with me, but perhaps you might at least permit me to have Jiju~. You
poor thing, how can you stand it?" She was trying very hard to weep, but
the triumphant smile of the assistant viceroy's wife was not very well
hidden." To the end of his days your royal father looked upon me as a
disgrace to the family. But I do not hold grudges, and so here I am. Thanks
to Genji there was a time when you might have hoped to go on living like
a princess. I would not have dreamed of trying to insinuate my way into
your royal presence. But these things pass. Sometimes the underdog wins.
The mighty sometimes fall, and a person does after all have to feel sorry
for them. I have not been very diligent about keeping in touch, I know,
but I have had the comforting knowledge that you are near. Now I am
going off to the provinces. I can hardly bear to think of leaving you all
alone."
The princess offered a few stiff words in reply." It is kind of you to
have invited me. I fear that I would not be good company. I shall stay
where I am, thank you very much, and that will be that."
"No doubt. I do have to admire you. Not everyone would have the
courage. I am sure Genji could make this place over into a gleaming palace
in a minute if he chose to. But they tell me he finds time these days for
Prince Hyo~bu's daughter and no one else. He has always had an eye for
the ladies, I'm told, but they come and they go, and the ones that used to
please him don't any more. Do you think he will be grateful to you for
watching over the wormwood?"
The princess was in tears. Though the aunt was right, of course, she
spent a whole day in futile argument.
<P 297>
"Well, let me have Jiju~ then." It was evening, and she was in a hurry
to be off.
Forced at last to take a stand, Jiju~ was weeping copiously. "I will just
see your aunt on her way, then, my lady, as she has urged me to. I think
that what she says is quite true," she added in a whisper, "and at the same
time I think it quite understandable that you cannot find it in yourself to
agree. I am put in a very difficult position."
So Jiju~ too was leaving. The princess could only weep. The everyday
robes she might have offered as farewell presents were yellow and stained.
And what else was there, what token of her gratitude for long years of
service? She remembered that she had collected her own hair as it had
fallen, rather wonderful, ten feet or so long. She now put it into a beauti-
fully fabricated box, and with it a jar of old incense.
"I had counted upon them not to slacken or give,
These jeweled strands--and far off now they are borne.
"I am a useless person, I know, but there were your mama's last
instructions, and I had thought you would stay with me." She was weeping
bitterly. "You must go, of course. And what am I to do without you?"
Jiju~ could scarcely reply. "Yes, of course, there was Mama. Don't,
please, remind me of her, my lady. We have been through a great deal
together, and I am not asking them to take me away from you.
"The jeweled strands may snap, but I swear by the gods,
The gods of the road, that I will not cast them off.
Though I cannot of course be sure how long I shall live."
Meanwhile the aunt was grumbling. "Can't you hurry just a little? It's
getting dark."
In a daze, Jiju~ was urged into the carriage. She looked back and looked
back again as it pulled away.
The princess was lonelier than ever. She had said goodbye to the last
of them. Jiju~ had not left her side through all the difficult years.
"She was quite right to go. How could she have stayed? It is getting
to be more than we ourselves can stand." Even old women whose remain-
ing task was to die were looking for better positions.
The princess only hoped that no one heard their complaining.
<N 8>
There was a great deal of snow and sleet as winter came. In other
gardens it melted, but in hers there were weeds to Protect it, until presently
one was reminded of White Mountain in Etchu~. The princess gazed out at
a garden without gardeners. The last friend with whom she could exchange
an occasional pleasantry had left her. She passed lonely days and nights
in a dusty boudoir.
Genji, having been away for so long, was completely occupied at Nijo~.
He had no time to visit ladies of lesser importance. He did from time to
time think of the safflower princess and wonder whether she would still
<P 298>
be among the living. He had no great wish to seek her out, however; and
so the year came to an end.
<N 9>
In the Fourth Month he thought of the lady of the orange blossoms.
Telling Murasaki that he had an errand to do, he slipped out of the Nijo~
house. A light rain was falling, the end of several days' rain. The moon
came out just as the clouds were breaking. He was sunk in thoughts of
other secret expeditions as he made his way through the soft evening
moonlight. He passed a house so utterly ruinous, a garden so rank, that he
almost wondered whether human beings had ever broken the wild forest.
Wisteria blossoms, trailing from a giant pine, waved gently in the moon-
light. The breeze brought in a vague, nostalgic perfume, similar to but
somehow different from orange blossoms. He leaned from his carriage.
Without support from the crumbling earthen wall, the branches of a wil-
low dropped to the ground in great disorder. He had been here before. Yes
--Prince Hitachi's mansion. He had his carriage stopped, and inquired of
Koremitsu, who was always with him on these expeditions, whether it was
indeed Prince Hitachi's.
"It is, my lord."
"What an awful time the poor princess was having. I wonder if she
still lives here. I had been thinking about her, but you know what people
would say if I tried to see her. An opportunity it would be wrong to let
pass. Go inside, please, and ask. But be very sure of yourself before you
do. We would look very silly if we found ourselves with the wrong per-
son."
Though he did not know it, he had chosen a moment of heightened
feeling. She had been napping and she had dreamed of her father. After-
wards, as if on his order, she set someone to mopping the rainwater that
had leaked into a penthouse, and someone else to rearranging cushions,
and in general it seemed as if she had resumed housekeeping.
"My sleeves still wet from tears for him who died
Are wetter yet from rain through ruined eaves."
It was just at this moment. Koremitsu was wandering about seeking
traces of human occupancy. He found none. He had passed the house on
earlier occasions and looked in. It had seemed quite deserted. The moon
burst forth brightly as he turned to leave. He saw that a pair of shutters
was raised and a blind was moving slightly. Though this first sign of life
was a little frightening, he approached and cleared his throat to announce
his presence.
After a cough, a fearfully aged voice replied: "Who is that out there?
Who are you?"
Koremitsu identified himself. "I would like to speak to Jiju~, please, if
I may.
"Jiju~'s gone away and left us. But there's someone here you might call
just the same as Jiju~." The voice was a very, very ancient one. He thought
he had heard it before.
<P 299>
Suddenly, without warning, from nowhere, a gentleman in travel
dress, to all appearances courteous and civil. No longer accustomed to
receiving visitors, the old woman wondered if it might be a fox or some
equally perverse and mischievous creature.
He came nearer. "I must beg to be told exactly how things are with
you. If your lady has not changed, then my lord's wishes to call upon her
have not changed either. He found that he could not pass you by, and had
his carriage stopped outside. What shall I tell him? You have nothing to
be afraid of."
There was uncertain laughter, and a woman answered haltingly: "Do
you think that if she had changed she would not have moved away from
this jungle? Please imagine for yourself, sir, the situation of which you
inquire, and report it to your lord. We who should be used to it by now
think it most extraordinary. We ask ourselves how many other examples
there can possibly be in the whole world."
"I see. I will tell him." Fearing he might have a longer answer than he
wished, Koremitsu returned to Genji's carriage.
"You took your time," said Genji. "And what did you find? You must
have had to cut away a great deal of underbrush to find anything."
Koremitsu described the search that had taken him so long. "I spoke
to Jiju~'s aunt, the old lady called Sho~sho~. I would have recognized her voiceanywhere."
"What a way to live." Genji was sorry he had so neglected his saf-
flower. "What shall I do? It has been a very long time. These secret travels
are not easy for me, and if I let this opportunity pass there is not likely
to be another. If she hasn't changed-?"
It seemed rather inelegant just to walk in. He would have liked to send
in a clever note. But he remembered how slow she was with her answers.
Unless she had gained momentum Koremitsu might expect to be kept
waiting all night.
"It is very wet, sir. Suppose you wait until I have shaken a little of
it away."
"Myself will I break a path through towering weeds
And ask: does a constant spirit dwell within?"
Genji spoke as if to himself, and despite Koremitsu's warnings got
from his carriage.
Koremitsu beat at the grass with a horsewhip. The drops from the
trees were like a chilly autumn shower.
"I have an umbrella," said Koremitsu. "Tbese groves shed the most
fearful torrents."
Genji's feet and ankles were soaking. Even in the old days the passage
<P 300>
through the south gallery had been more obstacle than passage. Now the
