Page:Tales from old Japanese dramas (1915).djvu/458

370 a small boat and searched thoroughly all the creeks near them, until at last he discovered them. Quick as thought Ryūka seized his oar and struck him with all her strength. Losing his balance he went head foremost to the bottom of the sea, and when he rose again to the surface he was dead. Ryūka was delighted at her skill, and then, leading the Princess to the boat, was on the point of embarking with her, when about twenty soldiers appeared on the scene.

A severe struggle immediately took place, in which Ryūka succeeded in driving off the soldiers. But during the fight she unfortunately received a mortal wound. "Alas! Your Highness," said she, with groans. "I can accompany you no longer. You had better trust to the tide, and make your hiding-place wherever the boat carries you. May the God of the sea protect the sister of the Emperor."

With these words the dying woman exerted all her strength and pushed off the boat in which the Princess was seated. The boat, carried by the wind and ebb-tide, went farther and farther out into the open sea. Thus the two women weeping bitterly were separated for ever.