The Wind In the Pines 3

3. At the Cabin ("Noh" is an ancient Japanese style of drama, broadly similar to Elizabethan tragedy. "The Wind in the Pines" is my version of a well-known Noh play.) (The Chokugan = a shinto prayer. The priest is protecting himself from the ghosts.) BUDDHIST PRIEST Do you live here? MURASAME Why do you ask? Who are you? BUDDHIST PRIEST Just a traveler, benighted on my journey to ... MATSUKAZE What you request is little enough. But our cabin is sparse, unfurnished, rough. We are ashamed. It's far too humble. See? We cannot offer hospitality. BUDDHIST PRIEST I am not looking for feathers or feast. I am a simple, unassuming priest. A fog is gathering swiftly around: Please don't ask me to sleep on the ground. MURASAME: I am sorry. You cannot stay ... MATSUKAZE Wait! The fog is freezing, and the hour is late. The moon sails out from the refuge of a cloud, and I see the form of a man who has vowed to abandon all license. That, I admire. Approach, holy man, our wretched fire. BUDDHIST PRIEST I am grateful, ladies. Yukihira, the much-lamented young poet, put it thus: "If anyone should ever ask for me, say I'm in paradise, and I know it: in Kobe, enfolded by green sea, and fine women, to dote upon: no place could possibly be dearer". MATSUKAZE Aieee! BUDDHIST PRIEST What's wrong, young woman? See, I prayed this morning, by the tall tree, two-trunked and handsome. Nothing bad can come this way. You look so sad! MATSUKAZE You have mentioned the name of our dead lover. BUDDHIST PRIEST A peasant told me of two women from here, who both loved a Kyoto nobleman. He composed exquisite poetry, but sickness took him, in the prime of youth. MURASAME Aiee! BUDDHIST PRIEST I think I have stumbled into the truth! You are the girls who live in the tree! You gave your hearts to Yukihira, and now you're ghosts! The Chokugan!