14
Eminent Authors of Japan
- last! Arm yourself at once as a brave man should!
- Komuso.—Oh, hold a moment. There is no need to be in such a hurry to kill me. I have always been a coward, and I am still one. I am poor in the art of fencing, and my strength is very weak; therefore, if you wish to kill me, you can do it at any time … Iori had a very good and noble wife, such as you, Madam Okuni, and a good retainer, Gohei. Iori is a far happier man than I am, for I live a shameful life.
- (He unconcernedly seats himself on the stump of a pinetree, and Okuni and Gohei stand on guard on each side of him.)
- Gohei.—What! Dare you say that my master, whom you so shamefully killed and assaulted unawares, is a happier man than you? What nonsense are you talking?
- Okuni.—Oh, Tomonojo, if you do not want to live a shameful life, why did you not give yourself up as a guilty man? You who were born the son of the principal retainer …. What a miserable figure you cut now!
- Tomo.—I know well that I cut a miserable figure. But life is still so dear to me.
- Gohei.—Though you have become so degraded, remember you were once a samurai. How dare you say that life is so dear to you?
- Tomo.—Yes, yes, you may laugh and jibe at my cowardice. But it matters not to me how much people laugh, I do not wish to die!
