Page:The Sacred Tree (Waley 1926).pdf/152

146 how far matters were likely to go. This being the only gentleman’s house in the neighbourhood many of the fishing people and peasants who lived along the shore had now collected in front of it. Their queer, clipped dialect and the rustic topics of their conversation were alike very strange to him; but he would not suffer them to be driven out of earshot. ‘If this wind does not go down,’ one of them was saying, ‘we shall have the sea right on top of us before the tide turns. God’s help alone can save us.’ It may be imagined that these predictions were far from disposing the townsmen towards a quiet night’s rest. A brisk sea wind was again driving onward the swollen tide, and though he tried to reassure his men Genji was himself in considerable anxiety; when suddenly and quite unexpectedly he fell into a doze and dreamed that his father, looking exactly as in the old days when he was on the throne, stood beside the crazy bed which had been improvised for him in this disordered place. ‘How comes it that you are sleeping in such a place as this?’ the vision asked, and taking his hand made as though to drag him from the bed. And again, ‘Put your trust in the God of Sumiyoshi. Leave this place, take to your ship and He will show you where to go.’ What joy it was to hear that voice once more! ‘Father,’ Genji answered, ‘since your protection was taken from me nothing but sorrow and ill-fortune have befallen me, and now I am fully expecting to perish miserably upon this forsaken shore.’ ‘It is not to be thought of,’ answered the Emperor. ‘Your offence was not so great that you must needs be driven to such a place as this. Unfortunately I myself am at present expiating a few small offences (such as it is indeed impossible to avoid; for the Judges of the Dead have not managed to prove that during my whole reign I did serious harm to anyone). However, for the present this expiation keeps me very busy,