YURANOSUKE. The worm that feeds in the lion’s body is such as you. You received a high salary from our lord and great favours as well; and yet you became his enemy Moronao’s spy and reported to him everything, were it true or false. We, forty men and more, have left our parents, parted from our children, and sent our wives who should be our life-long companions to lead a life of shame, all, all to revenge our lord’s death; and awaking or asleep, we ponder ever upon the circumstances of his suicide and weep tears of despair in the anguish of our hearts. To-night, of all others, the eve of the anniversary of our lord’s death when we must abstain from all unclean food and I have endeavoured with the utmost effort not even to utter an impure word, you dared to thrust the flesh of fish to my face; how great was my agony when I durst not refuse and yet could not accept it! How do you imagine I felt when it went down my throat on this eve of the anniversary of my lord whose family mine has served for many generations? My whole body seemed all at once to go to pieces and my bones to break every one, You devil, you hound of hell! RECITATIVE. He presses and pushes his head on the ground and sinks into tears of despair. YURANOSUKE. Here, Heiyemon, my forgetting to take that rusty sword of mine [Illustration: Yuranosuke slashing Kudayu with a sword] was a presage that I should torture this fellow to death with it. Torture him without killing him. HEIYEMON. Very well, sir. RECITATIVE. No sooner does he draw the sword than he jumps and flies at Kudayu and cuts him about; but the gashes are only a few inches long. He strikes him until no part of his body is left unwounded. KUDAYU. Heiyemon, Okaru, plead for me. RECITATIVE. He clasps his hands to them. How unsightly is it for him to bow and entreat Teraoka, whom formerly he despised as an _ashigaru_! YURANOSUKE. If we kill him here, it will be difficult to explain it away. Pretend he is drunk and take him home. RECITATIVE. His _haori_ is thrown upon him to hide his wounds. Here Yazama, Senzaki, and Takemori, who have been listening in secret, suddenly open the sliding-door. ALL THREE. Master Yuranosuke, we humbly apologise for our conduct. YURANOSUKE. Here, Heiyemon, let this drunken guest take a bath in the River Kamo. HEIYEMON. Yes, sir. YURANOSUKE. Go. [1] The Japanese three-stringed guitar. [2] A play by Chikamatsu Monzaemon, the greatest of Japanese dramatists (1653—1724). [3] The ashigaru were a grade lower than the samurai; and in war they were common soldiers. [4] When her lord, Satehiko, left on an expedition to Korea, Sayo-hime stood on a high rock and waved her sleeves to his vessel. She remained there so long that she was turned into stone. [5] An allusion to a popular legend of the Stars Vega and Altair on the opposite sides of the Milky Way. ACT VIII. ACT VIII. THE BRIDAL JOURNEY.[1]