Ancient Tales and Folk-Lore of Japan | Page 3

must be O Kei San's. He went back to his little house, closed it for the night, and was about to retire when he heard a knock at the door. 'Who is there?' he shouted. 'What do you want?' There came no answer, and K?noj? lay down on his bed, thinking himself to have been mistaken. But there came another knock, louder than the first; and K?noj? jumped out of bed, and lit the ando.??1 'If not a fox or a badger,' thought he, 'it must be some evil spirit come to disturb me.'
On opening the door, with the ando in one hand, and a stick in the other, K?noj? looked out into the dark, and there, to his astonishment, he beheld a vision of female beauty the like of which he had never seen before. 'Who are you, and what do you want?' quoth he.
'I am O Kei San, O Ko's younger sister,' answered the vision. 'Though you have not seen me, I have several times seen you, and I have fallen so madly in love with you that I can think of nothing else but you. When you picked up my golden pin to-night on our return, I had dropped it to serve as an excuse to come to you and knock. You must love me in return; for otherwise I must die!'
This heated and outrageous declaration scandalised poor K?noj?. Moreover, he felt that it would be doing his kind host Hasunuma a great injustice to be receiving his younger daughter at this hour of the night and make love to her. He expressed himself forcibly in these terms.
'If you will not love me as I love you, then I shall take my revenge,' said O Kei, 'by telling my father that you got me to come here by making love to me, and that you then insulted me.'
Poor K?noj?! He was in a nice mess. What he feared most of all was that the girl would do as she said, that the samurai would believe her, and that he would be a disgraced and villainous person. He gave way, therefore, to the girl's request. Night after night she visited him, until nearly a month had passed. During this time K?noj? had learned to love dearly the beautiful O Kei. Talking to her one evening, he said:
'My dearest O Kei, I do not like this secret love of ours. Is it not better that we go away? If I asked your father to give you to me in marriage he would refuse, because I was betrothed to your sister.'
'Yes,' answered O Kei: 'that is what, I also have been wishing. Let us leave this very night, and go to Ishinomaki, the place where (you have told me) lives a faithful servant of your late father's, called Kinzo.'
'Yes: Kinzo is his name, and Ishinomaki is the place. Let us start as soon as possible.'
Having thrust a few clothes into a bag, they started secretly and late that night, and duly arrived at their destination. Kinzo was delighted to receive them, and pleased to show how hospitable he could be to his late master's son and the beautiful lady.
They lived very happily for a year. Then one day O Kei said:
'I think we ought to return, to my parents now. If they were angry with us at first they will have got over the worst of it. We have never written. They must be getting anxious as to my fate as they grow older. Yes: we ought to go.'
K?noj? agreed. Long had he felt the injustice he was doing Hasunuma.
Next day they found themselves back in Sendai, and K?noj? could not help feeling a little nervous as he approached the samurai's house. They stopped at the outer gate, and O Kei said to K?noj?, 'I think it will be better for you to go in and see my father and mother first. If they get very angry show them this golden pin.
K?noj? stepped boldly up to the door, and asked for an interview with the samurai.
Before the servant had time to return, K?noj? heard the old man shout, 'K?noj? San! Why, of course! Bring the boy in at once,' and he himself came out to welcome him.
'My dear boy,' said the samurai, 'right glad am I to see you back again. I am sorry you did not find your life with us good enough. You might have said you were going. But there--I suppose you take after your father in these matters, and prefer to disappear mysteriously. You are welcome back, at all events.'
K?noj? was astonished at this speech, and answered:
'But, sir, I have come to beg pardon for my sin.'
'What sin have you committed?' queried the samurai in great surprise, and drawing himself up, in a dignified manner.
K?noj? then