Speaker 1: In a cup of tea by laugh katio herne. Have
you ever attempted to mount some old tower stairway spiring
up through darkness, and in the heart of that darkness
found yourself at the cobwebbed edge of nothing? Or have
you followed some coast path cut along the face of
a cliff, only to discover yourself at a turn on
the jagged verge of a break. The emotional worth of
such experience from a literary point of view, is proved
by the force of the sensations aroused, and by the
vividness with which they are remembered. Now there have been
curiously preserved in old Japanese story books certain fragments of
fiction that produce an almost similar emotional experience. Perhaps the
writer was lazy, Perhaps he had a quarrel with the publisher.
Perhaps he was suddenly called away from his little table
and never came back. Perhaps death stopped the writing brush
in the very middle of a sentence. But no mortal
man can ever tell us exactly why these things were
left unfinished. I select a typical example. On the fourth
day of the first month of the third Tenhwa, that
is to say, about two hundred and twenty years ago,
the Lord Nakagawa Sedo, while on his way to make
a New Year's visit, halted with his train at a
tea house in Hakusan in the Hongo district of Yedo.
While the party were resting there, one of the Lord's attendants,
Awakato named Sakinai, feeling very thirsty, filled for himself a
large water cup with tea. He was raising the cup
to his lips when he suddenly perceived in the transparent
yellow infusion the image or reflection of a face that
was not his own. Startled, he looked around, but could
see no one near him. The face in that he
appeared from the coiffure to be the face of a
young samurai. It was strangely distinct and very handsome, delicate
as the face of a girl, and it seemed the
reflection of a living face, for the eyes and the
lips were moving. Bewildered by this mysterious apparition, second I
threw away the tea and carefully examined the cup. It
proved to be a very cheap water cup with no
artistic devices of any sort. He found and filled another cup,
and again the face appeared in the tea. He then
ordered fresh tea and refilled the cup, and once more
the strange face appeared, this time with a mocking smile.
But Second Eye did not allow himself to be frightened.
Whoever you are, he muttered, you shall delude me no further.
Then he swallowed the tea, face and all, and went
on his way, wondering whether he had swallowed a ghost.
Late in the evening of the same day, while on
watch in the palace of the Lord Nakagawa, second I
was surprised by the soundless coming of a stranger into
the apartment. This stranger, a richly dressed young samurai, seated
himself directly in front of second I, and saluting the
wakato with a slight bow, observed, I am shikibu Henai
met you to day for the first time. You do
not seem to recognize me, he spoke in a very
low but penetrating voice, and sekiin I was astonished to
find before him the same sinister, handsome face of which
he had seen and swallowed the apparition in a cup
of tea. It was smiling now as the phantom had smiled,
but the steady gaze of the eyes above the smiling lips,
was at once a challenge and an insult. No, I
do not recognize you, returned secin. I angry but cool,
and perhaps you will now be good enough to inform
me how you obtained admission to this house. In feudal times,
the residence of a lord was strictly guarded at all hours,
and no one could enter unannounced, except through some unpardonable
negligence on the part of the armed watch. Ah, you
do not recognize me, exclaimed the visitor, in a tone
of irony, drawing a little nearer as he spoke. No,
you do not recognize me, yet you took upon yourself
this morning to do me a deadly injury. Secondny instantly
seized the tanto at his girdle and made a fierce
thrust at the throat of the man, but the blade
seemed to touch no substance. Simultaneously and soundlessly, the intruder
leaped sideward to the chamber wall and through it. The
wall showed no trace of his exit. He had traversed
it only as the light of a candle passes through
lantern paper. When Second Eye made report of the incident,
his recital astonished and puzzled the retainers. No stranger had
been seen either to enter or leave the palace at
the hour of the occurrence, and no one in the
service of the Lord Nakagawa had ever heard of the
name shikibu Heinai. On the following night, second I was
off duty and remained at home with his parents. At
a rather late hour, he was informed that some strangers
had called at the house and desired to speak with
him for a moment. Taking his sword, he went to
the entrance, and there found three armed men, apparently retainers,
waiting in front of the door step. The three bowed
respectful to second Eye, and one of them said, our
names are Matsuoka Bungo, Suchi Bashi Bungo, and Oko Mura Heiroku.
We are retainers of the noble shikibu Henai. When our
master last night deigned to pay you a visit, you
struck him with a sword. He was much will hurt
and has been obliged to go to the hot springs,
where his wound is now being treated. But on the
sixteenth day of the coming month he will return, and
he will then fitly repay you for the injury done him.
Without waiting to hear more. Second, I leaped out, sword
in hand, and slashed right and left at the strangers.
But the three men sprang to the wall of the
adjoining building and flitted up the wall like shadows. And
here the old narrative breaks off. The rest of the
story existed only in some brain that has been dust
for a century. I am able to imagine several possible endings,
but none of them would satisfy an occidental imagination. I
preferred to let the reader attempt to decide for himself
the probable consequence of swallowing a soul and of in
a cup of tea.