Part Two竹取物語 2

The men of the world, the high and the low alike, heard of her and were smitten and fretted, saying, "Somehow I would win this Kaguya-hime, I would look upon her." Even those who stood at the hedge beside the house or at its gate could not easily see her, and yet at night they did not sleep in peace, but went out in the dark and bored holes and peeped and pried from here and there and fretted. From that time on this was called yobai.

They wandered about a place where no one took any notice of them, but no reward seemed likely to come of it. They tried to speak even a word to the people of the house and called out to them, but were not answered. Many of the young nobles who would not leave her side spent the nights and passed the days there. The foolish ones said, "A walk that brings no reward is a useless thing," and stopped coming.

Among them, those who still spoke were only five men, all of them called lovers of women, and their hearts had no time when they gave up, and they came by night and by day. Their names: one was Prince Ishitsukuri, one was Prince Kuramochi, one was the Minister of the Right Abe no Miushi, one was the Major Counselor Otomo no Miyuki, one was the Middle Counselor Isonokami no Maro. These men and no others.

They were men who wanted to see even a common woman of the world if they heard she was a little fair of face. So they longed to see Kaguya-hime, and did not eat, and brooded, and went to that house and loitered about it, but there could be no reward in it. They wrote letters and sent them, but no answer came. They wrote poems of complaint and sent them, but nothing came back. Though they thought, "There is no reward in it," they came through the snow and frost of the eleventh month and the twelfth month, and through the beating sun of the sixth month, and were not held back.

One time these men called out the old bamboo cutter, and bowing to the ground and rubbing their hands they said, "Give your daughter to me." But he said, "She is not a child I begot, so she does not follow my will," and so the months and the days went by. At this these men went home and brooded, and prayed, and made vows, and tried to stop their longing, but it would not stop. They thought, "Even so, will she in the end take no husband?" and they kept their hope. They went about pressing their purpose upon her.

Seeing this, the old man said to Kaguya-hime, "My child, though they say you are one of another world, like a buddha, the care with which I have raised you to this size is not slight. Will you hear what this old man has to say?"

Kaguya-hime said, "What could you say that I would not hear? I did not even know that I was born a being of another world, and I have thought of you only as my parent."

The old man said, "How gladly you speak," and went on. "This old man is past seventy years. I do not know whether my day is today or tomorrow. Among the people of this world, a man meets a woman and a woman meets a man. Only after that does a house grow wide. How can you go on with no such thing?"

Kaguya-hime said, "How should I do such a thing?"

"Though they call you one of another world, you have the body of a woman. While this old man is alive you may stay as you are. But these men have passed months and years living so and saying what they say. Weigh it and settle it, and meet each one of them."

Kaguya-hime said, "My face is not even fair, and I do not know their deep hearts. I think only this: 'If a man's heart is fickle, there may be regret afterward.' Even if he were the finest man in the world, I think it is hard to meet him without knowing the depth of his purpose."

The old man said, "You speak as I thought you would. Then what sort of purpose must a man have for you to be willing to meet him? Surely the purpose of these men is not slight."

Kaguya-hime said, "What great depth would I say I want to see? It is a small thing. The purpose of all of them is the same. How am I to know which of them is the better and which the worse? Say this to the gentlemen who are there: 'If one of the five shows me the thing I wish to see, I shall say that his purpose is the greater, and I shall serve him.'"

"That is a good thing," he said, and took it up. About the time the day grew dark they gathered as always. Some of them played the flute, some sang, some chanted, some whistled, some beat time on their fans. Then the old man came out and spoke.

"It is more than I deserve that you should come to so mean a place through months and years, and I say that I am deeply obliged. I told her, 'This old man's life may end today or tomorrow, so weigh well and settle upon one of these gentlemen who speak to you, and serve him.' She answers, 'Not knowing their deep hearts, I cannot.' What she says is reasonable. She says, 'Since not one of them is better or worse than another, if they will show me the thing I wish to see, the depth of their purpose will appear by it. Whom I am to serve shall be settled by that.' This is a good thing. There will be no man's resentment in it."

The five men said, "That is a good thing," and so the old man went in and told her.

To Prince Ishitsukuri Kaguya-hime said, "In India there is a thing called the stone begging bowl of the Buddha. Bring me that." To Prince Kuramochi she said, "In the eastern sea there is said to be a mountain called Penglai. On it stands a tree with silver for its root, gold for its stem, and white gems for its fruit. Break off one branch of it and bring it to me." To one more she said, "Give me the robe of fire rat fur that is in the land of Tang." To the Major Counselor Otomo she said, "On the neck of a dragon there is a jewel that shines with five colors. Bring me that." To the Middle Counselor Isonokami she said, "Bring me one koyasu shell that the swallow holds."

The old man said, "These are hard things. They are not even things that are in this land. How am I to speak of things as hard as these?"

Kaguya-hime said, "What is hard in them?" The old man said, "Be that as it may, I will speak of them," and he went out and said, "It stands thus. Show her what she asks, as you have heard." The princes and the high nobles heard it and said, "Would you not rather have said plainly, 'Do not come even near this place'?" and in disgust they all went home.