Page:Anthology of Japanese Literature.pdf/398

394, as my wife, with dowry and all—I should spend my whole life fawning on her. How could I possibly assert myself? It goes against me so much that even were my dead father to rise from his grave and command me to marry, I should still be unwilling.”

The Piaster was furious at my long argument and angrily said, “I know your real reasons. You’re involved with Ohatsu, or whatever her name is, from the Temma Teahouse, and that’s why you are so averse to marrying my wife’s niece. Very well—after what’s been said, I’m no longer willing to give you the girl, and since there’s to be no marriage, return the money. Settle the account by the seventh of April at the latest. Now get out of here and never set foot in Osaka again.”

I too felt my manhood rise. “Right you are!” I cried and left at once for my village. But when I got there I found that my so-called mother wouldn’t release the money from her grasp, not even if this world turned into the next. I went to Kyoto to borrow from the wholesale sauce and oil merchants in the Fifth Ward, who are friends of mine and would normally be glad to lend me money, but as ill luck would have it, they didn’t have any to spare. I went back again to the country, and finally, by getting the whole village to plead on my behalf, I managed to extract the money from my mother. Now I intend to pay back the dowry and settle things once and for all. But if I can’t stay here in Osaka, how shall I be able to meet you?

Though my bones be crushed to powder, though my flesh be torn away, and like an empty shell I sink in the slime of Shijimi River, if I am parted from you, what shall I do?

Thus suffocated by his grief he weeps.
 * Ohatsu seeks to hold the tears that well,
 * Imparting to him all the strength she has.

How you’ve suffered! And when I think that it’s all been on account of me, I’m happy, sad, and most grateful all at once. But you must be more courageous. Even if your uncle has forbidden you to set foot in Osaka, you haven’t committed robbery or