Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Genji) — Young Violet Part 2

Genji's attendants now arrived from the capital, and congratulated him on the improvement in his health.

A messenger was despatched from the Imperial Palace for the same purpose.

The priest now collected wild and rare fruits, not to be met with in the distant town, and, with all respect, presented them to Genji, saying: "The term of my vow has not yet expired; and I am, therefore, sorry to say that I am unable to descend the mountain with you on your departure."

He then offered to him the parting cup of _saké_.

"This mountain, with its waters, fill me with admiration," said Genji, "and I regret that the anxiety of my father the Emperor obliges me to quit the charming scene; but before the season is past, I will revisit it: and-- The city's folk from me shall hear How mountain cherries blossom fair, And ere the Spring has passed away, I'll bid them view the prospect gay."

To this the priest replied-- "Your noble presence seems to me Like the rare flowers of Udon tree,[62] Nor does the mountain cherry white, Attract my gaze while you're in sight."

Genji smiled slightly, and said: "That is a very great compliment; but the Udon tree does not blossom so easily."

The hermit also raised the cup to his lips, and said:-- "Opening my lonely hermit's door, Enclosed around by mountain pine, A blossom never seen before My eyes behold that seems divine."

And he presented to him his _toko_ (a small ecclesiastical wand).

On seeing this, the priest also made him the following presents:--A rosary of Kongôji (a kind of precious stone), which the sage Prince Shôtok obtained from Corea, enclosed in the original case in which it had been sent from that country; some medicine of rare virtue in a small emerald jar; and several other objects, with a spray of Wistaria, and a branch of cherry blossoms.

Genji, too, on the other hand, made presents, which he had ordered from the capital, to the hermit and his disciples who had taken part in the religious ceremonies, and also to the poor mountaineers.

He also sent the following to the nun, by the priest's page:-- "In yester-eve's uncertain light, A flower I saw so young and bright, But like a morning mist.

Now pain Impels me yet to see again."

A reply from the nun was speedily brought to him, which ran thus:-- "You say you feel, perhaps 'tis true, A pang to leave these mountain bowers, For sweet the blossoms, sweet the view, To strangers' eyes of mountain flowers."

While this was being presented to him in his carriage, a few more people came, as if accidentally, to wait upon him on his journey.

Among them was Tô-no-Chiûjiô, and his brother Ben, who said: "We are always pleased to follow you; it was unkind of you to leave us behind."

Just as the party were on the point of starting, some of them observed that it was a pity to leave so lovely a spot without resting awhile among the flowers.

This was immediately agreed to, and they took their seats on a moss-grown rock, a short distance from which a little streamlet descended in a murmuring cascade.

They there began to drink _saké_, and Tô-no-Chiûjiô taking his flute, evoked from it a rich and melodious strain; while Ben, tapping his fan in concert, sang "The Temple of Toyora," while the Prince, as he leaned against a rock, presented a picturesque appearance, though he was pale and thin.

Among the attendants was one who blew on a long flute, called Hichiriki, and another on a Shiô flute.

The priest brought a _koto_, and begged Genji to perform upon it, saying: "If we are to have music at all, let us have a harmonious concert."

Genji said that he was no master of music; but, nevertheless, he played, with fair ability, a pleasing air.

Then they all rose up, and departed.

After they had quitted the mountain, Genji first of all went to the Palace, where he immediately had an interview with the Emperor, who considered his son to be still weak in health; and who asked him several questions with regard to the efficacy of the prayers of the reverend hermit.

Genji gave him all particulars of his visit to the mountain.

"Ah!"

said the Emperor, "he may some day be entitled to become a dean (Azali).

His virtue and holiness have not yet been duly appreciated by the government and the nation."

Sadaijin, the father-in-law of the Prince, here entered, and entreated Genji to accompany him to his mansion, and spend a few days.

Genji did not feel very anxious to accept this invitation, but was persuaded to do so.

Sadaijin conveyed him in his own carriage, and gave up to him the seat of honor.

They arrived; but, as usual, his bride did not appear, and only presented herself at last at the earnest request of her father.

She was one of those model princesses whom one may see in a picture--very formal and very sedate--and it was very difficult to draw her into conversation.

She was very uninteresting to Genji.

He thought that it would only lead to a very unpleasant state of affairs, as years grew on, if they were to be as cool and reserved to each other as they had been hitherto.

Turning to her, he said, with some reproachfulness in his accents, "Surely you should sometimes show me a little of the ordinary affection of people in our position!"

She made no reply; but, glancing coolly upon him, murmured with modest, yet dignified, tone-- "When you cease to care for me, What can I then do for thee?"

"Your words are few; but they have a sting in them.

You say I cease to care for you; but you do me wrong in saying so.

May the time come when you will no longer pain me thus," said Genji; and he made every effort to conciliate her.

But she was not easily appeased.

He was unsuccessful in his effort, and presently they retired to their apartment, where he soon relapsed into sleepy indifference.

His thoughts began to wander back into other regions, and hopes of the future growth and charms of the young mountain-violet again occupied his mind.

"Oh!

how difficult it is to secure a prize," thought he.

"How can I do so?

Her father, Prince Hiôbkiô, is a man of rank, and affable, but he is not of prepossessing appearance.

Why does his daughter resemble so much, in her personal attractions, the lovely one in the chamber of Wistaria.

Is it that the mother of her father and of Wistaria is the same person?

How charming is the resemblance between them!

How can I make her mine?"

Some days afterwards he sent a letter to the mountain home, and also a communication--perhaps with some hint in it--to the priest.

In his letter to the nun he said that her indifference made it desirable to refrain from urging his wishes; but, nevertheless, that he should be deeply gratified if she would think more favorably of the idea which was now so deeply rooted in his mind.

Inside the letter he enclosed a small folded slip of paper, on which was written:-- "The mountain flower I left behind I strive but vainly to forget, Those lovely traits still rise to mind And fill my heart with sad regret."

This ludicrous effusion caused the nun to be partly amused and partly vexed.

She wrote an answer as follows:-- "When you came into our neighborhood your visit was very pleasing to us, and your special message does us honor.

I am, however, at a loss how to express myself with regard to the little one, as yet she cannot even manage the naniwadz."

[63] Enclosed in the note were the following lines, in which she hinted as to her doubts of the steadfastness of Genji's character: "Your heart admires the lowly flower That dwells within our mountain bower.

Not long, alas!

that flower may last Torn by the mountain's angry blast."

The tenor of the priest's answer was much the same, and it caused Genji some vexation.

About this time the Lady Wistaria, in consequence of an attack of illness, had retired from the palace to her private residence, and Genji, while sympathizing with the anxiety of the Emperor about her, longed greatly for an opportunity of seeing her, ill though she was.

Hence at this time he went nowhere, but kept himself in his mansion at Nijiô, and became thoughtful and preoccupied.

At length he endeavored to cajole Ô Miôbu, Wistaria's attendant, into arranging an opportunity for him to see her.

On Wistaria's part there were strong doubts as to the propriety of complying with his request, but at last the earnestness of the Prince overcame her scruples, and Ô Miôbu managed eventually to bring about a meeting between them.

[64] Genji gave vent to his feelings to the Princess, as follows:-- "Though now we meet, and not again We e'er may meet, I seem As though to die, I were full fain Lost in this blissful dream."

Then the Princess replied to him, full of sadness:-- "We might dream on but fear the name, The envious world to us may give, Forgetful of the darkened fame, That lives when we no longer live."

For some time after this meeting had taken place, Genji found himself too timid to appear at his father's palace, and remained in his mansion.

The Princess, too, experienced a strong feeling of remorse.

She had, moreover, a cause of anxiety special in its nature and peculiar to herself as a woman, for which she alone felt some uneasiness of conscience.

Three months of the summer had passed away, and her secret began to betray itself externally.

The Emperor was naturally anxious about the health of his favorite, and kind inquiries were sent from time to time to her.

But the kinder he was to her the more conscience-stricken she felt.

Genji at this time was often visited by strange dreams.

When he consulted a diviner about them, he was told that something remarkable and extraordinary might happen to him, and that it behooved him to be cautious and prudent.

"Here is a pretty source of embarrassment," thought Genji.

He cautioned the diviner to be discreet about it, especially because he said the dreams were not his own but another person's. When at last he heard authentically about the condition of the Princess, he was extremely anxious to communicate with her, but she now peremptorily objected to any kind of correspondence between them, and Ô Miôbu too refused any longer to assist him.

In July Wistaria returned to the palace.

There she was received by the Emperor with great rejoicing, and he thought that her condition did but add to her attractiveness.

It was now autumn, the season when agreeable receptions were often held by the Emperor in Court, and it was awkward when Genji and the Princess happened to face each other on these occasions, as neither of them could be free from their tender recollections.

During these autumn evenings the thoughts of Genji were often directed to the granddaughter of the nun, especially because she resembled the Princess so much.

His desire to possess her was considerably increased, and the recollection of the first evening when he heard the nun intoning to herself the verses about the tender grass, recurred to his mind.

"What," thought he, "if I pluck this tender grass, would it then be, would it then grow up, as fair as now."

"When will be mine this lovely flower Of tender grace and purple hue?

Like the Wistaria of the bower, Its charms are lovely to my view."

The Emperor's visit to the Palace Suzak-in was now announced to take place in October, and dancers and musicians were selected from among the young nobles who were accomplished in these arts, and Royal Princes and officers of State were fully engaged in preparation for the _fête_.

After the Royal festivities, a separate account of which will be given hereafter, he sent again a letter to the mountain.

The answer, however, came only from the priest, who said that his sister had died on the twentieth day of the last month; and added that though death is inevitable to all of us, still he painfully felt her loss.

Genji pondered first on the precariousness of human life, and then thought how that little one who had depended on her must be afflicted, and gradually the memory of his own childhood, during which he too had lost his mother, came back to his mind.

When the time of full mourning was over, Shiônagon, together with the young girl, returned to their house in the capital.

There one evening Genji paid them a visit.

The house was rather a gloomy one, and was tenanted by fewer inmates than usual.

"How timid the little girl must feel!"

thought Genji, as he was shown in.

Shiônagon now told him with tearful eyes every circumstance which had taken place since she had seen him.

She also said that the girl might be handed over to her father, who told her that she must do so, but his present wife was said to be very austere.

The girl is not young enough to be without ideas and wishes of her own, but yet not old enough to form them sensibly; so were she to be taken to her father's house and be placed with several other children, much misery would be the result.

Her grandmother suffered much on this account.

"Your kindness is great," continued she, "and we ought not, perhaps, to think too anxiously about the future.

Still she is young, too young, and we cannot think of it without pity."

"Why do you recur to that so often?"

said Genji, "it is her very youthfulness which moves my sympathy.

I am anxious to talk to her, Say, can the wave that rolls to land, Return to ocean's heaving breast, Nor greet the weed upon the strand With one wild kiss, all softly pressed.

How sweet it would be!"

"That is very beautifully put, sir," said Shiônagon, "but, Half trembling at the coming tide That rolls about the sea-beat sand, Say, can the tender weed untried, Be trusted to its boisterous hand?"

Meanwhile the girl, who was with her companions in her apartment, and who was told that a gentleman in Court dress had arrived, and that perhaps it was the Prince, her father, came running in, saying, "Shiônagon, where is the gentleman in Court dress; has the Prince, my father, arrived?"

"Not the Prince, your father," uttered Genji, "but I am here, and I too am your friend.

Come here!"

The girl, glancing with shy timidity at Genji, for whom she already had some liking, and thinking that perhaps there was impropriety in what she had spoken, went over to her nurse, and said, "Oh!

I am very sleepy, and wish to lie down!"

"See how childish she still is," remarked Shiônagon.

"Why are you so timid, little one, come here and sleep on my knees," said Genji.

"Go, my child, as you are asked," observed Shiônagon, and she pushed her towards Genji.

Half-unconsciously she took her place by his side.

He pushed aside a small shawl which covered her hair, and played with her long tresses, and then he took her small hand in his.

"Ah, my hand!"

cried she, and drawing it back, she ran into a neighboring room.

Genji followed her, and tried to coax her out of her shyness, telling her that he was one of her best friends, and that she was not to be so timid.

By this time darkness had succeeded to the beautiful evening, and hail began to fall.

"Close the casement, it is too fearful, I will watch over you this evening," said Genji, as he led the girl away, to the great surprise of Shiônagon and others who wondered at his ease in doing this.

By and by she became sleepy, and Genji, as skilfully as any nurse could, removed all her outer clothing, and placed her on the couch to sleep, telling her as he sat beside her, "some day you must come with me to some beautiful palace, and there you shall have as many pictures and playthings as you like."

Many other similar remarks he added to arrest her attention and to please her.

Her fears gradually subsided, and as she kept looking on the handsome face of Genji, and taking notice of his kindness, she did not fall asleep for some time.

When the night was advanced, and the hailstorm had passed away, Genji at last took his departure.

The temperature now suddenly changed, and the hail was lying white upon the grass.

"Can it be," thought he, "that I am leaving this place as a lover?"

At that moment he remembered that the house of a maiden with whom he had had an acquaintance was on his road home.

When he came near to it he ordered one of his attendants to knock at the door.

No one, however, came forth.

Thereupon Genji turned to another, who had a remarkably good voice, and ordered him to sing the following lines:-- "Though wandering in the morning gray, This gate is one I cannot pass, A tender memory bids me stay To see once more a pretty lass."

This was repeated twice, when presently a man came to the door and sang, in reply, as follows:-- "If you cannot pass the gate, Welcome all to stop and wait.

Nought prevents you.

Do not fear, For the gate stands always here."

And then went in, slamming the door in their faces, and appearing no more.

Genji, therefore disappointed, proceeded on his way home.

On the morrow he took up his pen to write a letter to Violet, but finding that he had nothing in particular to say, he laid it aside, and instead of a letter several beautiful pictures were sent for her.

From this time Koremitz was sent there very often, partly to do them service, and partly to watch over their movements.

At last the time when the girl's father was to take her home approached within a night, and Shiônagon was busily occupied in sewing a dress for the girl, and was thus consequently unable to take much notice of Koremitz when he arrived.

Noting these preparatory arrangements, Koremitz at once hastened to inform Genji about them.

He happened to be this evening at the mansion of Sadaijin, but Lady Aoi was not, as was often the case, with him, and he was amusing himself there with thumping a _wagon_ as he sang a "Hitachi" song.

Koremitz presented himself before him, and gave him the latest information of what was going on.

Genji, when he had listened to Koremitz, thought, "This will never do;

I must not lose her in this way.

But the difficulty is indeed perplexing.

If, on the one hand, she goes to her father, it will not become me to ask him for her.

If, on the other hand, I carry her off, people may say that I stole her.

However, upon consideration, this latter plan, if I can manage to shut people's mouths beforehand, will be much better than that I should demand her from her father."

So, turning to Koremitz, he said, "I must go there.

See that the carriage is ready at whatever hour I may appoint.

Let two or three attendants be in readiness."

Koremitz, having received these orders, retired.

Long before dawn broke, Genji prepared to leave the mansion.

Lady Aoi, as usual, was a little out of temper, but Genji told her that he had some particular arrangements to make at his mansion at Nijiô, but that he would soon return to her.

He soon started, Koremitz alone following him on horseback.

On their arrival Koremitz proceeded to a small private entrance and announced himself.

Shiônagon recognized his voice and came out, and upon this he informed her that the Prince had come.

She, presuming that he did so only because he happened to pass by them, said, "What!

at this late hour?"

As she spoke, Genji came up and said:-- "I hear that the little one is to go to the Prince, her father, and I wish to say a few words to her before she goes."

"She is asleep; really, I am afraid that she cannot talk with you at this hour.

Besides, what is the use?"

replied Shiônagon, with a smile.

Genji, however, pressed his way into the house, saying:-- "Perhaps the girl is not awake yet, but I will awake her," and, as the people could not prevent his doing so, he proceeded to the room where she was unconsciously sleeping on a couch.

He shook her gently.

She started up, thinking it was her father who had come.

Genji pushed the hair back from her face, as he said to her, "I am come from your father;" but this she knew to be false, and was alarmed.

"Don't be frightened," said Genji; "there is nothing in me to alarm you."

And in spite of Shiônagon's request not to disturb her, he lifted her from the couch, abruptly saying that he could not allow her to go elsewhere, and that he had made up his mind that he himself would be her guardian.

He also said she should go with him, and that some of them should go with her.

Shiônagon was thunderstruck.

"We are expecting her father to-morrow, and what are we to say to him?"

She added, "Surely, you can find some better opportunity to manage matters than this."

"All right, you can come afterward; we will go first," retorted Genji, as he ordered his carriage to drive up.

Shiônagon was perplexed, and Violet also cried, thinking how strange all this was.

At last Shiônagon saw it was no use to resist, and so having hurriedly changed her own dress for a better one, and taking with her the pretty dress of Violet which she had been making in the evening, got into the carriage, where Genji had already placed the little one.

It was no great distance to Nijiô, and they arrived there before dawn.

The carriage was driven up to the western wing of the mansion.

To Shiônagon the whole affair seemed like a dream.

"What am I to do?"

she said to Genji, who teasingly answered, "What you choose.

You may go if you like; so long as this darling is here I am content."

Genji lifted the girl out and carried her into the house.

That part of the mansion in which they now were, had not been inhabited, and the furniture was scanty and inappropriate; so, calling Koremitz, the Prince ordered him to see that proper furniture was brought.

The beds were therefore taken from the eastern wing, where he himself lived.

Day broke, and Shiônagon surveyed with admiration all the magnificence with which she was surrounded.

Both the exterior of the building and its internal arrangements left nothing to be desired.

Going to the casement, she saw the gravelled walks flashing brightly in the sun.

"Ah," thought she, "where am I amidst all this splendor?

This is too grand for me!"

Bath water for their ablutions, and rice soup were now brought into the apartment, and Genji afterward made his appearance.

"What!

no attendants?

No one to play with the girl?

I will send some," and he then ordered some young persons from the eastern wing of the mansion.

Four accordingly came.

Violet was still fast asleep in her night-dress, and now Genji gently shook and woke her.

"Do not be frightened any more," he said quietly to her; "a good girl would not be so, but would know that it is best to be obedient."

She became more and more pleasing to him, and he tried to please her by presenting to her a variety of pretty pictures and playthings, and by consulting her wishes in whatever she desired.

She was still wearing the dress of mourning, of sombre color and of soft material, and it was only now at last that she began to smile a little, and this filled Genji with delight.

He now had to return to the eastern wing, and Violet, for the first time, went to the casement and looked out on the scenery around.

The trees covered with foliage, a small lake, and the plantations round about expanded before her as in a picture.

Here and there young people were going in and out.

"Ah!

what a pretty place," she exclaimed, charmed as she gazed around.

Then, turning again into the apartment, she saw beautiful pictures painted on the screens and walls, which could not but please her.

Genji did not go to the Palace for two or three days, but spent his time in trying to train Violet.

"She must soon take lessons in writing," he thought, and he wrote several writing copies for her.

Among these was one in plain characters on violet-colored paper, with the title, "Musashi-no" (The field of Musashi is known for its violets).

She took it up, and in handwriting plain and clear though small, she found the following: Though still a bud the violet be, A still unopened blossom here, Its tenderness has charms for me, Recalling one no longer near.

"Come, _you_ must write one now," said Genji.

"I cannot write well enough," said Violet, looking up at him, with an extremely charming look.

"Never mind, whether good or bad," said he, "but still write something, to refuse is unkind.

When there is any difficulty I will help you through with it."

Thereupon she turned aside shyly and wrote something, handling the pen gracefully with her tiny fingers.

"I have done it badly," she cried out, and tried to conceal what she had written, but Genji insisted on seeing it and found the following:-- I wonder what's the floweret's name, From which that bud its charm may claim!

This was, of course, written in a childish hand, but the writing was large and plain, giving promise of future excellence.

"How like her grandmother's it is," thought Genji.

"Were she to take lessons from a good professor she might become a master of the art."

He ordered for her a beautiful doll's house, and played with her different innocent and amusing games.

In the meantime, the Prince, her father, had duly arrived at the old home of Violet and asked for her.

The servants were embarrassed, but as they had been requested by Genji not to tell, and as Shiônagon had also enjoined them to keep silence, they simply told him that the nurse had taken her and absconded.

The Prince was greatly amazed, but he remembered that the girl's grandmother never consented to send his daughter to his house, and knowing Shiônagon to be a shrewd and intelligent woman, he concluded that she had found out the reasons which influenced her, and that so out of respect to her, and out of dislike to tell him the reason of it, she had carried the girl off in order that she might be kept away from him.

He therefore merely told the servants to inform him at once if they heard anything about them, and he returned home.

Our story again brings us back to Nijiô.

The girl gradually became reconciled to her new home, as she was most kindly treated by Genji.

True, during those evenings when Genji was absent she thought of her dead grandmother, but the image of her father never presented itself to her, as she had seldom seen him.

And now, naturally enough, Genji, whom she had learned to look upon as a second father, was the only one for whom she cared.

She was the first to greet him when he came home, and she came forward to be fondled and caressed by him without shame or diffidence.

Girls at her age are usually shy and under restraint, but with her it was quite different.

And again, if a girl has somewhat of jealousy in her disposition, and looks upon every little trifle in a serious light, a man will have to be cautious in his dealings with her, and she herself, too, will often have to undergo vexation.

Thus many disagreeable and unexpected incidents might often result.

In the case of Violet, however, things were very different, and she was ever amiable and invariably pleasant.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 61: An Indian theological writing.

] [Footnote 62: In the Buddhist Bible it is stated that there is in Paradise a divine tree, called Udon, which rarely blossoms.

When, however, it does blossom, Buddha is said to appear in the world, therefore we make use of this expression when referring to any rare event.

] [Footnote 63: The name of a song which in those days formed the first lesson in writing.

] [Footnote 64: The authoress represents her in a subsequent chapter as suffering punishment in the next world for this sin.

The real cause of Genji's exile is also supposed to have resulted from the same sin.

] CHAPTER VI