Page:Tales from old Japanese dramas (1915).djvu/166

112 beautiful armour instead of the priest's robe in which he had been disguised. Mitsuhidé looked back in amazement and, retracing his steps, cried with a fierce look:

"I am glad to see you, Hidéyoshi. Akéchi Mitsuhidé will now celebrate your funeral rites. Prepare for your last moments." Mitsuhidé was ready for an attack, but the dying mother intercepted them.

"Lord Hidéyoshi," she said, "look at me. I have been killed with this bamboo-spear, as a divine punishment for my son's crime of having murdered his master. I don't regret dying by the hand of my son, because I hope that my death may be a means of extenuating his vile crime. Lord Hidéyoshi, I beseech you to place it upon record that Mitsuhidé's mother was crucified for the sake of her son's crime. Mitsuhidé will then be freed from the infamy of matricide. I beg you to do this out of my foolish affection for my wicked son. I die contented, for I would rather hasten to the other world after my grandson than stay in this wearisome universe. Farewell! Farewell!"

So saying she passed peacefully away. Misao