Page:Tales from old Japanese dramas (1915).djvu/130

80 By this time Nobunaga was quite intoxicated.

"You too!" he said, "you are also filled with such useless fears! It is very annoying! I fear my Sambōshi is sleepy.—I have drunk enough. Let us now forget our joys and sorrows in sweet sleep."

As he spoke, he rose to his feet, and retired to the inner chamber, and Ano-no-Tsuboné, with the baby prince in her arms, followed him.

Then Rammaru and all the others retired to their respective rooms, and were soon drowned in sleep.

The night was far advanced, and "even the grasses and trees were wrapt in sleep." The effects of liquor had passed away from Nobunaga's brain, and he could not longer sleep. He got up and slid open the shōji. Suddenly he was startled to hear a confused noise of the crows in their roosts in the garden trees. They were flapping and crying in alarm through the dark night. He bent his head in wonder, and the sound of bells and drums smote on his ear from far away. The sounds seemed to draw nearer and nearer. He called to the men on night duty.