Page:Anthology of Japanese Literature.pdf/424

420 “We came from Okabe,” answered Yaji.

“How quick you are,” said the witch.

“Oh, that’s nothing,” said Yaji. “We can walk as fast as Idaten. If we’re put to it we can walk thirty-five miles a day.”

“But then we shouldn’t be fit for anything for ten days after,” put in Kita.

While they were talking the saké was brought in.

“Won’t you have a little?” said Yaji to the young witch.

“I never touch a drop,” she answered.

“Will your companion have any?” asked Yaji.

“Mother, Mother! Come here,” called the young witch.

“Oh, it’s your mother, is it?” said Kita. “I must take care what I say in front of her. But come, do have some.”

Soon they began to drink and enjoy themselves, the cup passing from hand to hand very quickly. Yet strangely enough, the witches, however much they drank, never seemed to be any the worse for it, while Yaji and Kita got so drunk they could not speak plainly. After making all sorts of jokes which it would be too tedious to repeat, Kita at last in a drunken voice said, “I say, Mother, won’t you lend me your daughter for the night?”

“No, no, she’s going to lend her to me,” said Yaji.

“What an idea!” cried Kita. “You’d better try and be good tonight. Haven’t you any pity for your dead wife who spends her time in thinking of you and hoping you will join her quickly? Didn’t she say she’d come and meet you after a bit?”

“Here, don’t talk about that,” said Yaji. “What should I do if she did come to meet me?”

“Then you had better be good,” said Kita. “Now, old lady, what do you think?”

Kita here gave the young witch a loving caress, but she pushed him off and ran away, saying “Be quiet.”

“If my daughter doesn’t want to,” said the mother, “what about me?”

“Well, if it comes to that I don’t care who it is,” said Kita, who was lost in a drunken dream.