OKARU. No, no, though I part from him, I feel no sorrow since I am selling myself for our lord. I go with a brave heart. But, mother, I am sorry I cannot see father before I go. MOTHER. Oh, when he returns, I am sure he will go and see you. Use moxa so as not to fall ill, and come and show me your bright face sometimes. You will be uncomfortable without paper and a fan. Have you everything you want? Don’t stumble and hurt yourself. [Illustration: Crying woman carried in a palanquin] RECITATIVE. She looks after her until she gets into the palanquin. They bid each other farewell. By what ill-fate is it that with such a fair daughter, this sorrow falls upon her? The mother weeps with clenched teeth; and the daughter clings to the side of the palanquin and chokes with tears in her desire not to let her crying be seen or heard. The palanquin is, alas, lifted up, and the bearers hurry away on the road. The mother stands gazing after her. MOTHER. Ah, how sad I must have made my daughter with my foolish words! O my son, when even I, her mother, am resigned to her going, I hope you will not keep thinking of her and make yourself ill. How is it that father does not come home? You said you saw him, did you not? KANPEI. Ah, yes. MOTHER. And where did you see him? And where did he go when he left you? KANPEI. Well, we parted at...... let me see...... was it at Toba or Fushimi? Or Yodo or Takeda? RECITATIVE. While he speaks at random, Meppo Yahachi, Tanegashima no Roku, and Tanuki no Kakubei, three hunters of the neighbourhood, come in without ceremony, bearing on a shutter Yoichibei’s body, covered over with a straw rain-coat. [Illustration: Three hunters carrying a body] YAHACHI. As we were coming home from the night’s work, we found your old man’s body, and so we have brought it here. RECITATIVE. The mother is amazed. MOTHER. Whose deed was it? Tell me, my son, who is the murderer? Please, revenge his death. Oh, my husband, my husband! RECITATIVE. But her cries are in vain; there is naught but tears for her. HUNTERS. Oh, how grieved you must be, old mother! Appeal to the Lord Deputy’s office and have the matter inquired into. We are very sorry for you. RECITATIVE. The hunters all leave her and go to their own homes. The mother, amid her tears, comes close to Kanpei. MOTHER. Now, my son, I thought my suspicions unjust; but there is one thing I cannot understand. Though you were, it is true, formerly a samurai, yet one would have expected you to be amazed when you saw your father-in-law’s dead body. When you met him on the road, did you not receive money from him? What did he say to you? Now, tell me. Say it. Ah, you cannot answer; and this is the reason why. RECITATIVE. And she puts her hand into Kanpei’s bosom and draws out the pouch. MOTHER. A while ago I caught sight of this pouch. See, it is stained with blood, and you must have killed the old man. KANPEI. No, this........