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Speaker 1: In a cup of tea by laugh katio herne. Have

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you ever attempted to mount some old tower stairway spiring

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up through darkness, and in the heart of that darkness

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found yourself at the cobwebbed edge of nothing? Or have

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you followed some coast path cut along the face of

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a cliff, only to discover yourself at a turn on

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the jagged verge of a break. The emotional worth of

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such experience from a literary point of view, is proved

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by the force of the sensations aroused, and by the

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vividness with which they are remembered. Now there have been

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curiously preserved in old Japanese story books certain fragments of

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fiction that produce an almost similar emotional experience. Perhaps the

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writer was lazy, Perhaps he had a quarrel with the publisher.

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Perhaps he was suddenly called away from his little table

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and never came back. Perhaps death stopped the writing brush

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in the very middle of a sentence. But no mortal

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man can ever tell us exactly why these things were

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left unfinished. I select a typical example. On the fourth

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day of the first month of the third Tenhwa, that

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is to say, about two hundred and twenty years ago,

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the Lord Nakagawa Sedo, while on his way to make

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a New Year's visit, halted with his train at a

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tea house in Hakusan in the Hongo district of Yedo.

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While the party were resting there, one of the Lord's attendants,

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Awakato named Sakinai, feeling very thirsty, filled for himself a

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large water cup with tea. He was raising the cup

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to his lips when he suddenly perceived in the transparent

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yellow infusion the image or reflection of a face that

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was not his own. Startled, he looked around, but could

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see no one near him. The face in that he

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appeared from the coiffure to be the face of a

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young samurai. It was strangely distinct and very handsome, delicate

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as the face of a girl, and it seemed the

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reflection of a living face, for the eyes and the

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lips were moving. Bewildered by this mysterious apparition, second I

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threw away the tea and carefully examined the cup. It

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proved to be a very cheap water cup with no

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artistic devices of any sort. He found and filled another cup,

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and again the face appeared in the tea. He then

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ordered fresh tea and refilled the cup, and once more

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the strange face appeared, this time with a mocking smile.

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But Second Eye did not allow himself to be frightened.

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Whoever you are, he muttered, you shall delude me no further.

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Then he swallowed the tea, face and all, and went

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on his way, wondering whether he had swallowed a ghost.

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Late in the evening of the same day, while on

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watch in the palace of the Lord Nakagawa, second I

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was surprised by the soundless coming of a stranger into

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the apartment. This stranger, a richly dressed young samurai, seated

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himself directly in front of second I, and saluting the

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wakato with a slight bow, observed, I am shikibu Henai

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met you to day for the first time. You do

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not seem to recognize me, he spoke in a very

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low but penetrating voice, and sekiin I was astonished to

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find before him the same sinister, handsome face of which

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he had seen and swallowed the apparition in a cup

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of tea. It was smiling now as the phantom had smiled,

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but the steady gaze of the eyes above the smiling lips,

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was at once a challenge and an insult. No, I

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do not recognize you, returned secin. I angry but cool,

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and perhaps you will now be good enough to inform

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me how you obtained admission to this house. In feudal times,

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the residence of a lord was strictly guarded at all hours,

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and no one could enter unannounced, except through some unpardonable

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negligence on the part of the armed watch. Ah, you

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do not recognize me, exclaimed the visitor, in a tone

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of irony, drawing a little nearer as he spoke. No,

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you do not recognize me, yet you took upon yourself

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this morning to do me a deadly injury. Secondny instantly

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seized the tanto at his girdle and made a fierce

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thrust at the throat of the man, but the blade

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seemed to touch no substance. Simultaneously and soundlessly, the intruder

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leaped sideward to the chamber wall and through it. The

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wall showed no trace of his exit. He had traversed

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it only as the light of a candle passes through

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lantern paper. When Second Eye made report of the incident,

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his recital astonished and puzzled the retainers. No stranger had

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been seen either to enter or leave the palace at

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the hour of the occurrence, and no one in the

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service of the Lord Nakagawa had ever heard of the

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name shikibu Heinai. On the following night, second I was

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off duty and remained at home with his parents. At

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a rather late hour, he was informed that some strangers

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had called at the house and desired to speak with

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him for a moment. Taking his sword, he went to

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the entrance, and there found three armed men, apparently retainers,

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waiting in front of the door step. The three bowed

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respectful to second Eye, and one of them said, our

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names are Matsuoka Bungo, Suchi Bashi Bungo, and Oko Mura Heiroku.

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We are retainers of the noble shikibu Henai. When our

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master last night deigned to pay you a visit, you

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struck him with a sword. He was much will hurt

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and has been obliged to go to the hot springs,

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where his wound is now being treated. But on the

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sixteenth day of the coming month he will return, and

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he will then fitly repay you for the injury done him.

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Without waiting to hear more. Second, I leaped out, sword

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in hand, and slashed right and left at the strangers.

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But the three men sprang to the wall of the

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adjoining building and flitted up the wall like shadows. And

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here the old narrative breaks off. The rest of the

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story existed only in some brain that has been dust

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for a century. I am able to imagine several possible endings,

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but none of them would satisfy an occidental imagination. I

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preferred to let the reader attempt to decide for himself

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the probable consequence of swallowing a soul and of in

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a cup of tea.