Kōbai, the oldest surviving son of the late Tō no Chūjō, was now Lord Inspector1. He was an energetic, clever, open man who from his boyhood had shown great promise. He had reached considerable eminence2, of course, and was well thought of and a great favorite with the emperor. Upon his first wife’s death he married Makibashira, daughter of Higekuro, the chancellor3. It was she who had such strong regrets for the cypress4 pillar when her mother left her father’s house. Her grandfather had arranged for her to marry Prince Hotaru, who had left her a widow. The inspector favored her with clandestine5 attentions after Prince Hotaru’s death, and would seem to have concluded that it was a sufficiently6 distinguished7 liaison8 to be made public. Having been left with two children, both daughters, he prayed to the gods native and foreign that his second wife bear him a son. The prayer was soon granted. Makibashira had brought with her a daughter by Prince Hotaru.
Kōbai was scrupulously9 impartial10 in his treatment of the three girls, but malicious11, troublemaking12 women are to be found in most important households and his was no exception. There were unpleasant incidents, most of which, however, Makibashira, a cheerful, amiable13 lady, managed to smooth over so that no one was left feeling aggrieved14. She did not let the princess’s claims influence her unduly15, and it was on the whole a harmonious16 household over which she presided.
In rapid succession there were initiation17 ceremonies for the three girls. Kōbai built a spacious18 new hall, a beam span wider in either direction than most. To his older daughter he assigned the south rooms, to his younger the west, and to the prince’s daughter the east. The outsider is likely to pity the fatherless daughter among stepsisters but the princess had come into a good inheritance from both sides of her family and was able to indulge her tastes and interests quite as she wished, on festive19 occasions and at ordinary times as well.
Young ladies who enjoy such advantages are certain to be noticed, and as each of the girls reached maturity20 she was noticed by even the emperor and the crown prince, who sent inquiries21. The empress so dominated court life, however, that Kōbai was uncertain how to reply. Presently he was able to persuade himself that a refusal to face competition is the worst possible thing for a young lady’s prospects22. Yūgiri’s daughter, already married to the crown prince, would be the most formidable of competition, but the superior man did not let such difficulties control his life. An attractive young lady should not be wasted at home. So he gave his older daughter to the crown prince. She was seventeen or eighteen, very pretty and vivacious24.
The second girl had, it was reported, a graver, deeper sort of beauty. Kōbai was most reluctant to give her in marriage to a commoner. Might Prince Niou perhaps be interested?
Niou was fond of joking with Kōbai’s young son when the two of them were at court together. The boy had artistic25 talents and a countenance26 that suggested considerable intellectual endowments as well.
“Tell your father,” said Niou, “that I am annoyed with him for keeping the rest of the family out of sight. You are surely not its most interesting member?”
The boy passed the remark on, and Kōbai was all smiles. There were times when it was good to have a daughter or two.
“It might not be a bad idea, you know. The competition at court is fierce, and a pretty daughter could do worse than marry one of the younger princes. The idea is rather exciting, now that I give it a little thought.”
This happened while he was getting his older daughter ready for presentation at court. He had been reminding the god of Kasuga that empresses were supposed to come from the Fujiwara family. It was the god’s own promise, and Tō no Chūjō had been badly used in the days when the Reizei emperor was preparing to name his consort27. Perhaps something might be done now to make amends28.
Court gossip had it that the older daughter was doing well in the competition for the crown prince’s affection. Knowing how strange and difficult court life can be, Kōbai sent Makibashira to be with her. Makibashira was a most admirable guardian29 and adviser30, but Kōbai was bored without her, and the younger daughter was very much at loose ends. Prince Hotaru’s daughter did not choose, in this difficult time, to stand on her dignity, and the two girls often spent the night together, passing the time at music and more frivolous31 pursuits. Kōbai’s daughter accepted the other as her mentor32 and they got on very well together. The princess was an extremely retiring young lady, not completely open even with her own mother. It was indeed a degree of reserve that attracted unfavorable comment, though it stopped short of positive eccentricity33. She was, as a matter of fact, a rather charming girl in her way, far better favored, certainly, than most.
Kōbai was feeling guilty about his stepdaughter, left out of all the excitement.
“You must make certain decisions,” he said to Makibashira. “I will do everything for her that I would do for one of my own daughters.”
“She seems to be completely without the hopes and plans one expects a young girl to have,” said Makibashira, brushing away a tear. “I certainly would not want to insist upon them. I suppose I must call it fate and keep her with me. She will have problems when I am gone, I am afraid, but perhaps people won’t laugh at her if she becomes a nun34.” And she added that in spite of everything the girl had a great deal to recommend her.
Kōbai was determined35 to be a good father, and he wished that the girl would cooperate at least to the extent of letting him see her.
“It is not kind of you to insist upon hiding yourself.” He had taken to stealing up to her curtains and searching for a hole or a gap, but he always went away disappointed.
“I want to be father and mother to you,” he continued, having posted himself firmly before her curtains, “and I am hurt that you should treat me like a stranger.”
Her answers, in very soft tones, suggested great elegance36, as indeed did everything about her. He wanted more than ever to see her. He was not prepared to admit that his own daughters were not the finest young ladies in the land, but he suspected that the princess might outshine them. The world was too wide and varied37, that was the trouble. A man might think he had a peerless daughter, and somewhere a lovelier lady was almost certain to appear. Yes, he really must have a look at the princess.
“It has been a month and more since I last had the pleasure of hearing you play. Things have been in such a frightful38 stir. The girl in the west rooms is absolutely mad about the lute39, you know. Do you think she has possibilities? The lute should be left alone unless it is played well. Give her a lesson or two, please, if you have nothing better to do. I am not the man I once was, and I never had regular lessons, but I was a passable musician in my day. I can still tell good from bad on almost any instrument. You are very parsimonious40 with your playing, but I do occasionally catch an echo, and it brings back old memories. Lord Yūgiri is still with us, of course, to keep the Rokujō tradition alive. Then there is his brother, the middle councillor, and there is Prince Niou. I am sure that they could have held their own against the best of the old masters. I am told that they are very serious about their music, though they may not have quite Yū- giri’s confident touch. Each time I hear your own lute I think how much it resembles his. People are always saying that the most important thing is tact41 and forbearance in the use of the left hand. That is important, of course, but a misplaced bridge can be a disaster, and for a lady a gentle touch with the right hand is very important too. Come, now, let me hear you play. A lute, someone!”
Her women were on the whole much less reticent42 than she, though one of them, very young and from a very good family, had annoyed him by withdrawing to a distant corner.
“Just see my lady, will you, way off over there. Who has she been led to think she is?”
His son came in, wearing casual court dress, more becoming, Kōbai thought, than full regalia.
He gave the boy a message for the daughter at court. “I cannot be with you this evening. You must do without me. Perhaps you can say that I am not feeling well.” That business out of the way, he smiled and turned to other business. “Bring your flute43 with you one of these days. It may be what your sister here needs to encourage her. Do you ever play for His Majesty44? And do you please him, in your infantile way?”
He set the boy to a strain in the sōjō mode, which he managed very commendably45.
“Good, very good. I can see that you have profited from our little musicales. And now you must join him,” he said to the princess.
She played with obvious reluctance46 and declined to use a plectrum, but the brief duo was very pleasing indeed. Kōbai whistled an accompaniment, rich and full.
He looked out at a rose plum in full bloom just below this east veranda47.
“Magnificent. Am I right in thinking that Prince Niou is living in the palace these days? Take him a branch — the one who knows best knows best. How well I remember the days when Genji was young. They called him’the shining one.’ It would have been when he was a guards commander, and I was a page, as you are now. I was lucky enough to attract his attention, and I never shall forget the pleasure it gave me. They talk about Prince Niou and his good friend Kaoru, and indeed they have become very fine young gentlemen. I may have been heard to say that they are not like Genji, really not like him at all, but that is because for me there can never be another Genji. I find myself choking up at the thought that I once stood there beside him. And I was never so very close to him. For those that were it must seem as if something had gone very wrong, that they should be here without him.” His voice had become somewhat husky. Seeking to control himself, he broke off a plum branch and, handing it to the boy, pushed him towards the door. “Prince Niou is the only one left who reminds me of him. When the Blessed One died his disciples48 thought they saw something of his radiance in Prince Ananda, and ventured to hope that he had come back. For me Prince Niou is the light in all the darkness.”
Full of youthful good spirits once more, he dashed off a poem on a bit of scarlet49 paper and folded it inside a sheet of notepaper the boy chanced to have with him.
“A purposeful breeze wafts50 forth51 the scent52 of our plum.
Will not the warbler be first to heed53 the summons?”
The boy rushed off to the palace, delighted at the prospect23 of seeing Niou, whom he found emerging from the empress’s audience chamber54. Niou singled him out among the throngs55 in her anterooms.
“Why did you have to run off in such a hurry last night? How long have you been here this evening?”
“I was sorry I had to go. I came earl y this evening because they said you might still be here.” He spoke56 as one man to another.
“You must come and see me at Nijō sometime. It is a more comfortable sort of place, and it seems to attract young people, I don’t really know why.”
The stir had subsided57. Sensing an intimate tête-à-tête, the throngs were withdrawing.
“So my brother, the crown prince, is letting you have a little time of your own for a change? It used to be that he had to have you with him every moment of the day. Does it make you a little jealous, that your sister is occupying so much of his attention?”
“You are not to think I wanted it that way. If it had been you, now — Confidently he took a seat beside the prince.
“They insist on treating me like a child. If that is their view of me, there is not much that I can do about it. Yet I cannot help being annoyed. Perhaps you might remind another sister, the one whose rooms face east, I am told, that we come from the same worn-out old family, and so perhaps we might be friends.”
It was the boy’s opportunity to present the plum branch.
Niou smiled. “I am glad it is not a peace offering.” He was delighted with it. The scent and color and the distribution of the blossoms surpassed anything he had seen in the palace gardens.
“I’ve heard it said that the rose plum puts everything into its color and lets the white plum have all the perfume, but here we have color and perfume all in the same blossoms.”
The plum blossom had always been among his favorites. The boy was delighted to have brought such pleasure.
“You are on duty this evening, I believe? Why don’t you stay here with me?”
And so the boy was not after all able to call on the crown prince. The scent of the plum blossoms was rather overwhelmed by the scent from Niou’s robes. Lying beside him, the boy thought he had never met a more charming gentleman.
“And my cousin, the mistress of your plums? Was she not invited to come into the crown prince’s service?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone mention it — but I did hear my father say that the one who knows best knows best.”
Niou’s informants had apprised58 him of the fact that Kōbai was more concerned about his own daughter than Prince Hotaru’s. Since she did not happen to be Niou’s favorite, he did not immediately answer Kōbai’s poem.
Early the next morning he did have a poem ready for the boy to take with him. It was not perhaps a very warm one.
“If I were one who followed inviting59 scents60
Perhaps I might be summoned by the wind.”
“Do not let yourself become involved in talks with the aged,” he said more than once to the boy. “Have a quiet talk with someone nearer your own age.”
These remarks had the effect of making the boy feel responsible for his royal sister. His father’s daughters were more open with him and seemed more like sisters, and his childish view of the princess was almost worshipful. Yes, he must find her a good husband. He wished well for all his sisters, and the tasteful gaiety of the crown prince’s household made him think that the royal one among them had had very bad luck. How good it would be to see her at Niou’s side! The branch of plum blossoms had produced most encouraging hints.
He delivered Niou’s poem to his father.
“Not very friendly, I must say. But it is amusing to see what a prim61 and proper face he is putting on for us. I suppose he is aware that Yūgiri and all the rest of us think him a little too much of a ladies’ man. The primness62 does not accord very well with his talents in that direction.”
If he was annoyed he quickly recovered, and today again got off a friendly note:
“Ever fragrant63, the royal sleeves touch the blossoms
And bring them into higher and higher repute.
“I must ask to be forgiven if I seem frivolous.”
Perhaps, thought Niou, it was worth taking seriously. He answered:
“Were I to follow the fragrance64 of the blossoms,
Might I not be accused of wantonness?”
Kōbai thought it a bit stiff, when things had been going so well.
Makibashira came home from court. “The boy seems to have spent a night at the palace not long ago. When he left the next morning everyone was admiring the marvelous perfume.‘Aha,’ said the crown prince,‘he has been with my brother Niou.’ The crown prince is very quick in these things. And that, he said, was why he was being neglected himself. We all thought it very amusing. Had you written to Prince Niou? Somehow it didn’t seem as if you had.”
“I had indeed. He has always been fond of plum blossoms, and the rose plum is so unusually fine this year that I could not let the opportunity pass. I broke off a branch and sent it to him. He gives off such an extraordinary scent himself. I doubt that you could find in all the wardrobes of all the grand ladies a robe with a finer scent burnt into it. With Lord Kaoru it all comes naturally. He seems to have no interest at all in perfumes. It is very curious, really — what do you suppose he has been up to in other lives? One plum blossom may go by the same name as another, but it’s the roots that make all the difference. Prince Niou was kind enough to praise this one of ours, and I must say that it deserves to be praised.” So the plum became his excuse for discussing Niou.
Prince Hotaru’s daughter was old enough to know what was expected of young ladies, and she took careful note of what went on around her. She had evidently concluded with some firmness that marriage was not for her. Men are easily swayed by power and prestige, and Kōbai’s daughters, with their influential65 father behind them, had already had many earnest proposals. The princess had lived a quiet, withdrawn66 sort of life by comparison. But Niou seemed to have decided67 that she was the one for him. Kōbai’s son, now among his regular attendants, was kept busy delivering secret notes.
Kōbai had hopes of his own and watched for evidence that they had been noticed. Indeed he was already making plans.
Makibashira thought him rather pathetic. “He has it all wrong. This stream of letters might have some point if the prince were even a little interested.”
Niou was spurred to new efforts by the silence with which his notes were greeted. Makibashira occasionally sought to coax68 an answer from her daughter. Niou’s prospects were bright and a girl could certainly do worse. But the princess found it hard to believe that he was serious. He was known to be keeping up numerous clandestine liaisons69, and his trips to Uji did not seem merely frivolous.
Makibashira got off a quiet letter from time to time. A prince was, after all, a prince.
收听单词发音 |
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inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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eminence
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| n.卓越，显赫；高地，高处；名家 | |
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chancellor
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| n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长 | |
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cypress
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| n.柏树 | |
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clandestine
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| adj.秘密的，暗中从事的 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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liaison
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| n.联系，（未婚男女间的）暖昧关系，私通 | |
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scrupulously
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| adv.一丝不苟地；小心翼翼地，多顾虑地 | |
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impartial
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| adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的 | |
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malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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troublemaking
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| n.捣乱的行为 | |
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amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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aggrieved
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| adj.愤愤不平的，受委屈的；悲痛的；（在合法权利方面）受侵害的v.令委屈，令苦恼，侵害( aggrieve的过去式)；令委屈，令苦恼，侵害( aggrieve的过去式和过去分词) | |
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unduly
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| adv.过度地，不适当地 | |
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harmonious
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| adj.和睦的，调和的，和谐的，协调的 | |
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initiation
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| n.开始 | |
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spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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festive
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| adj.欢宴的，节日的 | |
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maturity
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| n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期 | |
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inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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vivacious
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| adj.活泼的，快活的 | |
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artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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consort
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| v.相伴；结交 | |
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amends
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| n. 赔偿 | |
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guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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adviser
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| n.劝告者，顾问 | |
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frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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mentor
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| n.指导者，良师益友；v.指导 | |
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eccentricity
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| n.古怪，反常，怪癖 | |
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nun
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| n.修女，尼姑 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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elegance
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| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
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varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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lute
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| n.琵琶，鲁特琴 | |
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parsimonious
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| adj.吝啬的，质量低劣的 | |
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tact
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| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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reticent
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| adj.沉默寡言的；言不如意的 | |
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flute
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| n.长笛；v.吹笛 | |
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majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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commendably
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| 很好地 | |
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reluctance
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| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
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veranda
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| n.走廊；阳台 | |
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disciples
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| n.信徒( disciple的名词复数 )；门徒；耶稣的信徒；（尤指）耶稣十二门徒之一 | |
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scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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wafts
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| n.空中飘来的气味，一阵气味( waft的名词复数 )；摇转风扇v.吹送，飘送，（使）浮动( waft的第三人称单数 ) | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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throngs
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| n.人群( throng的名词复数 )v.成群，挤满( throng的第三人称单数 ) | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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apprised
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| v.告知，通知( apprise的过去式和过去分词 )；评价 | |
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inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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scents
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| n.香水( scent的名词复数 )；气味；（动物的）臭迹；（尤指狗的）嗅觉 | |
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prim
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| adj.拘泥形式的，一本正经的；n.循规蹈矩，整洁；adv.循规蹈矩地，整洁地 | |
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primness
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| n.循规蹈矩，整洁 | |
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fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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64
fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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65
influential
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| adj.有影响的，有权势的 | |
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66
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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67
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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68
coax
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| v.哄诱，劝诱，用诱哄得到，诱取 | |
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69
liaisons
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| n.联络( liaison的名词复数 )；联络人；（尤指一方或双方已婚的）私通；组织单位间的交流与合作 | |
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