What! I can not feed! My Lady of the Weeping Willow Tree is gone! Obaa-San has built a circle of happiness about her head. Hai! I shall die in this shape.--I must feed.--Perhaps she tries to trick me.--I shall listen.--Why does she not weep?--Why do they not wail? [_He starts for the house. As he nears it, the voice of Obaa-San is heard crooning the little lullaby_: See, baby, see The ears of the wolf are long; Sleep, baby, sleep, Your father is brave and strong. THE GAKI (_defeated, seems beside himself. Suddenly he looks out and sees the mountain-peak_) I'll find them in the bamboo glade. Perhaps I can make unhappiness there. Riki and Aoyagi! _The Curtains Close._ ACT II _A Bamboo Glade on the Mountain-side._ [_The Gaki comes in._ THE GAKI This is the glade on the mountain side--the glade where Aoyagi and Riki think to find their happiness. Here must I feed or I shall die in this shape.--Hai!--They come. [_Riki and Aoyagi enter._ RIKI ... and so like every other prince who is a real prince, he charged to the top of the hill before his men; and they, following him, fell upon the enemy and victory was theirs. AOYAGI And then--? RIKI And then the Princess laid her hand upon her heart. AOYAGI Is that all? RIKI Is that all? What more need there be? AOYAGI Did they not wed and have great happiness? RIKI You can answer that. AOYAGI I? I never heard the story before. RIKI One may always end a story--just right. AOYAGI Not a weeping willow tree? RIKI Even a weeping willow tree! AOYAGI How? RIKI I'll show you.--Stand right here.--So! I stand here.--Now look at me. AOYAGI I am looking. RIKI Place your hand upon your heart. AOYAGI Ay. RIKI Now I am the Prince. With sword in hand I come to you. From Kyushu to Koban I've fought my way to you;--through forest, marsh and mountain path I've striven for you. Now I am here.--Look at me. AOYAGI Ah! [_With a cry of delight she rushes to his arms._ RIKI And did they wed? AOYAGI Ah, love beyond love. RIKI And did they have great happiness? AOYAGI Ah! [_She nestles close to him._ [Illustration: THE LADY OF THE WEEPING WILLOW TREE ACT III.] RIKI My little princess! I did not come to you sword in hand; I did not fight my way from Kyushu to Koban. But I strove for you through forest, marsh and mountain pass.--Within me throbbed a mighty song that I could not sing. I saw almost all the world, it seems, and once I heard a voice that seemed to call to me alone. It was at the ferry of Ishiyama. I followed the sound--and there she stood all aglow in the morning sunlight. But when I saw, the song still throbbed within my heart and I could not sing to her.--Someone else called to me--"Hai! Hai! Hai!" AOYAGI And what of her--the vision at the ferry of Ishiyama? RIKI For all I know she may still be standing there in the morning sunlight all aglow.--I have found you! AOYAGI And was she--fair? RIKI