THE GAKI That would kill her--perhaps. AOYAGI No--no--I should be near her then--always. THE GAKI But where would I have my food? Not in your heart, not in hers--I should starve and I must live. AOYAGI What then? THE GAKI See! [_He points to the road. Aoyagi looks in that direction as The Gaki disappears. Riki comes in. Occasionally one may hear a bit of a lullaby sung in the old cracked voice of Obaa-San_: See, baby, see The ears of the wolf are long; Sleep, baby, sleep, Your father is brave and strong. _Riki is a poet, young, free, romantic. He faces Aoyagi a little moment as though a wonderful dragonfly had poised above his reflection in a pool._ RIKI You are she! AOYAGI My--who--are--you? RIKI I am a poet--I have sought everywhere for you. AOYAGI I am the Lady of the Weeping Willow Tree! RIKI You are my love. AOYAGI I am the daughter of Obaa-San. RIKI I love you so! AOYAGI Yes--I love you so!--But I love Obaa-San, my mother-- RIKI Come with me. AOYAGI But Obaa-San-- RIKI Come with me. Butterfly, butterfly, alight upon the Willow Tree And if you rest not well, then fly home to me. See! I make a little verse for you. AOYAGI But--Obaa-San--is very old and very lonely. RIKI She is your mother.--She must be glad to let you go. AOYAGI She does not know you. RIKI I know you. AOYAGI Yes--but I can not leave Obaa-San. RIKI We can not stay with Obaa-San. AOYAGI Can we not take her with us? RIKI No--like the Oshidori--we can go only by two and two along the silent stream--and as Oshidori in silence and in happiness float on and on and seem to cleave the mirrored sky that lies deep within the dark waters, so we must go, we two, just you and I, to some silent place where only you and I may be--and look and look until we see the thousand years of love in each other's hearts. AOYAGI Something speaks to me above the pity for poor Obaa-San. RIKI It is love. AOYAGI I love Obaa-San. RIKI This is love beyond love. This is earth and air--sea and sky. AOYAGI I do not even know your name. RIKI What does my name matter? I am I--you are you. AOYAGI I love Obaa-San, my mother.--I feel happy in her arms;--I felt at peace;--but now I feel that I must go to you.--I am fearful--yet I must go.--You are-- RIKI I am Riki. But what can Riki mean that already my eyes have not said? AOYAGI I feel a strange unrest--that is happiness. RIKI Come! AOYAGI First let me speak to Obaa-San. RIKI Look--out there--a mountain gleaming in the fresh spring air.--Amongst the trees I know a glade that waits for you and me.--A little stream comes plashing by and silver fishes leap from pool to pool--dazzling jewels in the leaf-broken sunlight. Tall bamboo trees planted deep in the father earth reach up to the sky.--And there the hand of some great god can reach down to us and feed our happiness-- AOYAGI