[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
maybe the princess is like you, taming the horses of Heaven.'
Tenba, who had been walking docilely between them, suddenly took fright at a
dove fluttering from the eaves of
the shrine and jumped backwards, pulling the ribbon through Shigeko's hands.
She went quickly after him to soothe him, but he was still flighty and plunged
past her, striking her with his shoulder and frightening himself more. She
nearly fell, but Hiroshi somehow put himself between her and the horse, and
she was aware of his strength for a moment, and longed with an intensity that
startled her to be held by him. The colt ran with high steps, the reins
dangling. Hiroshi said, 'Are you all right? He did not step on you?'
She shook her head, suddenly riven by emotion. They stood close, not touching.
She found her voice.
'I think we have done enough for today. We will just make him walk quietly
again. Then I must go home and prepare to receive my gift. Father will want to
make a ceremony of it.'
'Of course, Lady Shigeko,' he replied, once more cool and formal. The colt
allowed him to approach, and Hiroshi led him back to Shigeko. The air stirred
slightly in the breeze and the doves fluttered overhead, but the young horse
walked quietly between them, head lowered. Neither of them said anything.
Page 79
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Down at the dockside, the usual early morning bustle of activity had
quietened. Fishermen paused from unloading their night-time catch of silver
sardines and shiny blue-scaled mackerel, merchants halted the loading of bales
of salt, rice and silk onto the wide-beamed junks and a crowd gathered on the
cobbles to welcome the ship from Hofu with its unusual cargo.
Shigeko had just had time to return to the residence and change into garments
more suitable for welcoming whatever her present was to be. Luckily it was
only a
short walk from the castle gate to the harbour steps, along the beach, past
the little house under the pines where the famous courtesan Akane had once
entertained Lord Shigeru, the sweet-smelling shrubs she had planted still
scenting the air. Shizuka had waited for her, but her mother stayed behind,
saying she felt a little unwell. Takeo had already gone ahead with Sunaomi.
When they joined him, she could see her father was in a state of some
excitement: he kept looking sideways at her and smiling. She hoped her
reaction would not disappoint him, and resolved that no matter what the gift
was, she would pretend it was her heart's desire.
However, as the ship approached the wharf, and the strange animal could be
seen clearly - its long neck, its ears - Shigeko's amazement was as great and
as unfeigned as the rest of the onlookers', and her delight when Dr Ishida led
the creature carefully down the gangplank and presented it to her was
inexpressible. She was enchanted by the softness and strange pattern of its
coat, by its dark and gentle eyes, fringed with long, thick lashes, by its
delicate, graceful gait and its calm composure as it surveyed the unfamiliar
scene before it.
Takeo was laughing with pleasure, both with the kirin itself and with
Shigeko's reaction. Shizuka was welcoming her husband with undemonstrative
affection, and the little boy, Chikara, awed by the reception and the crowd,
recognized his brother's face and struggled to hold back tears.
'Be brave,' Dr Ishida admonished him. 'Greet your uncle and cousin properly.
Sunaomi, look after your little brother.'
'Lord Otori,' Chikara managed to say, bowing deeply. 'Lady . . .'
'Shigeko,' she prompted him. 'Welcome to Hagi!'
Ishida said to Takeo, 'We have brought some other passengers, less welcome
perhaps.'
'Yes, I was forewarned by Taku. Your wife will show them where they are to be
lodged. I will tell you later what our plans are for them. I hope I may
prevail on you to keep them entertained in the meantime.'
The foreigners - two of them, the first ever in Hagi -appeared on the
gangplank, causing no less astonishment than the kirin. They wore strange
puffed trousers and long boots of leather; gold gleamed at neck and breast.
One had a swarthy face half obscured by a dark beard; the other was
paler-skinned and his hair and beard were the colour of pale rust. This man's
eyes were pale too, green as green tea; at the sight of the hair and the light
eyes a shiver ran through the crowd, and Shigeko heard several whispers of,
'Can they be ogres?' 'Ghosts.' 'Goblins.'
They were followed by a small woman who seemed to be instructing them in the
appropriate courtesies. At her whisper they both bowed in a strange, rather
ostentatious manner, and then spoke in their harsh language.
Her father acknowledged them with a slight gesture of the head. He was no
longer laughing: he looked stern, magnificent in his formal robes, embroidered
with the heron, and black lacquer hat, his features composed and impassive.
The foreigners might be taller and of larger frame, but to Shigeko's eyes Lord
Otori was far more impressive.
The woman dropped to the ground before him, but he, with great graciousness,
Shigeko thought, indicated that she might stand and speak to him.
Shigeko was holding the silk cord that was attached to
the kirin's collar, and her attention was taken up by the marvellous creature,
but as she listened to her father speak a few words of welcome to the
strangers and the woman translate, then reply, she thought she heard something
Page 80
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
unusual in the voice. She looked at the woman, at her gaze, which was fixed on
Takeo's face. She knows Father, Shigeko thought. She dares to look directly at
him. There was something in that look, some familiarity bordering on insolence
which troubled her and put her on her guard.
The crowd at the quayside were then faced with the vexing question of whether
to follow the extraordinary kirin, which Ishida and Shigeko led towards the
shrine, where it would be shown to Mori Hiroki and presented to the river god,
and where an enclosure would be prepared for it, or the equally extraordinary
foreigners, who with a line of servants carrying a large number of boxes and
bales were escorted by Shizuka to the tiny boat which would take them across
the river to their lodging alongside the old temple building of Tokoji.
Fortunately the city of Hagi had a large number of inhabitants, and when the
crowd divided more or less in half, each procession was composed of a sizeable
throng. The foreigners found this more annoying than the kirin: they showed
signs of ill humour at the constant staring, and would be even more irritated
by the distance of their lodging place from the castle, and the guards and
other restrictions placed on them for their protection. The kirin walked as it
always did, with a deliberate, graceful step, aware of everything, alarmed by
nothing, inexhaustibly gentle.
'I am in love with it already,' Shigeko said to her
father as they neared the shrine. 'How can I ever thank you?'
'You must thank Dr Ishida,' Takeo replied. 'It is his gift to us: a precious
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
