7

Winter came and the days passed in forlorn procession. The lady had literally nothing to cling to. Genji commissioned a reading of the Lotus Sutra* which was the talk of the court. Making it known that he would have no ordinary clerics among the officiants, he summoned venerable and erudite sages who could be counted on to know what to do. Among them was the brother of the safflower princess.

On his return to the monastery he came by to see his sister. “It was all very grand, so lavish and in such impeccable taste that it made one think that the Pure Land had come down to this world. Genji must be an incarnation of a Blessed One or perhaps a messiah even. How can such a man have been born into this world of sin and corruption?” And he was on his way.

They were an unusually taciturn brother and sister, unable to ex-change the most idle remarks. Yet his words had made an impression. A Blessed One, a messiah, indeed! A fine messiah, taking no notice at all of her misery and peril. She understood at last. She would never see him again.

The aunt came busily in upon the worst of the gloom. Although she had not been close to the princess, she came laden with gifts, hoping that even now she might lure the princess off to the provinces. Her carriage a grand one, she came quite without forewarning, obviously satisfied with the course her career was taking. She was shocked at the desolation that lay before her. The gates were coming unhinged and leaning precariously, and resisted all the grunting efforts to open them. Even the “three paths” * had disappeared in the undergrowth. The carriage forced its way to a raised shutter at the south front. The princess, though offended, had Jiju~ receive the visitor from behind yellowing curtains. The years were catching up with Jiju~. She was thin and dispirited. She still retained enough of her old elegance, however, that the aunt, inappropriate though it would of course have been to say so, would have preferred having her for a niece.

“So I am off, and I must leave you to this. I have come for Jiju~. I know that you dislike me and would not consider making a trip around the corner with me, but perhaps you might at least permit me to have Jiju~. You poor thing, how can you stand it?” She was trying very hard to weep, but the triumphant smile of the assistant viceroy's wife was not very well hidden.” To the end of his days your royal father looked upon me as a disgrace to the family. But I do not hold grudges, and so here I am. Thanks to Genji there was a time when you might have hoped to go on living like a princess. I would not have dreamed of trying to insinuate my way into your royal presence. But these things pass. Sometimes the underdog wins. The mighty sometimes fall, and a person does after all have to feel sorry for them. I have not been very diligent about keeping in touch, I know, but I have had the comforting knowledge that you are near. Now I am going off to the provinces. I can hardly bear to think of leaving you all alone.”

The princess offered a few stiff words in reply.” It is kind of you to have invited me. I fear that I would not be good company. I shall stay where I am, thank you very much, and that will be that.”

“No doubt. I do have to admire you. Not everyone would have the courage. I am sure Genji could make this place over into a gleaming palace in a minute if he chose to. But they tell me he finds time these days for Prince Hyo~bu's daughter and no one else. He has always had an eye for the ladies, I'm told, but they come and they go, and the ones that used to please him don't any more. Do you think he will be grateful to you for watching over the wormwood?”

The princess was in tears. Though the aunt was right, of course, she spent a whole day in futile argument. “Well, let me have Jiju~ then.” It was evening, and she was in a hurry to be off.

Forced at last to take a stand, Jiju~ was weeping copiously. “I will just see your aunt on her way, then, my lady, as she has urged me to. I think that what she says is quite true,” she added in a whisper, “and at the same time I think it quite understandable that you cannot find it in yourself to agree. I am put in a very difficult position.”

So Jiju~ too was leaving. The princess could only weep. The everyday robes she might have offered as farewell presents were yellow and stained. And what else was there, what token of her gratitude for long years of service? She remembered that she had collected her own hair as it had fallen, rather wonderful, ten feet or so long. She now put it into a beautifully fabricated box, and with it a jar of old incense.

“I had counted upon them not to slacken or give, These jeweled strands—and far off now they are borne.

“I am a useless person, I know, but there were your mama's last instructions, and I had thought you would stay with me.” She was weeping bitterly. “You must go, of course. And what am I to do without you?”

Jiju~ could scarcely reply. “Yes, of course, there was Mama. Don't, please, remind me of her, my lady. We have been through a great deal together, and I am not asking them to take me away from you. “The jeweled strands may snap, but I swear by the gods,

The gods of the road, that I will not cast them off. Though I cannot of course be sure how long I shall live.”

Meanwhile the aunt was grumbling. “Can't you hurry just a little? It's getting dark.”

In a daze, Jiju~ was urged into the carriage. She looked back and looked back again as it pulled away.

The princess was lonelier than ever. She had said goodbye to the last of them. Jiju~ had not left her side through all the difficult years.

“She was quite right to go. How could she have stayed? It is getting to be more than we ourselves can stand.” Even old women whose remain-ing task was to die were looking for better positions.

The princess only hoped that no one heard their complaining.