V. THE POISONING
The next day Yokoyama sent to Prince Kane-uji a message, inviting him to come to his house, there to perform the wine-drinking ceremony of greeting each other as father-in-law and son-in-law.
Then the Princess Terute sought to dissuade the Hangwan from going there, because she had dreamed in the night a dream of ill omen.
But the Hangwan, making light of her fears, went boldly to the dwelling of the Choja, followed by his young retainers. Then Yokoyama Choja, rejoicing, caused many dishes to be prepared, containing all delicacies furnished by the mountains and the sea(1), and well entertained the Hangwan.
At last, when the wine-drinking began to flag, Yokoyama uttered the wish that his guest, the lord Kane-uji, would also furnish some entertainment(2).
"And what shall it be?" the Hangwan asked.
"Truly," replied the Choja, "I am desirous to see you show your great skill in riding."
"Then I shall ride," the prince made answer. And presently the horse called Onikage(3) was led out.
That horse was so fierce that he did not seem to be a real horse, but rather a demon or a dragon, so that few dared even to approach him.
But the Prince Hangwan Kane-uji at once loosened the chain by which the horse was fastened, and rode upon him with wondrous ease.
In spite of his fierceness, Onikage found himself obliged to do everything which his rider wished. All present, Yokoyama and the others, could not speak for astonishment.
But soon the Choja, taking and setting up a six-folding screen, asked to see the prince ride his steed upon the upper edge of the screen.
The lord Oguri, consenting, rode upon the top of the screen; and then he rode along the top of an upright shoji frame.
Then a chessboard being set out, he rode upon it, making the horse rightly set his hoof upon the squares of the chessboard as he rode.
And, lastly, he made the steed balance himself upon the frame of an andon(4).
Then Yokoyama was at a loss what to do, and he could only say, bowing low to the prince:
"Truly I am grateful for your entertainment; I am very much delighted."
And the lord Oguri, having attached Onikage to a cherry-tree in the garden, reentered the apartment.
But Saburo, the third son of the house, having persuaded his father to kill the Hangwan with poisoned wine, urged the prince to drink sake with which there had been mingled the venom of a blue centipede and of a blue lizard, and foul water that had long stood in the hollow joint of a bamboo.
And the Hangwan and his followers, not suspecting the wine had been poisoned, drank the whole.
Sad to say, the poison entered into their viscera and their intestines; and all their bones burst asunder by reason of the violence of that poison.
(1) Or, "with all strange flavors of mountain and sea."
(2) The word is really sakana, "fish." It has always been the rule to serve fish with sake; and gradually the word "fish" became used for any entertainment given during the wine-party by guests, such as songs, dances, etc.
(3) Literally, "Demon-deer-hair." The term "deer-hair" refers to color. A less exact translation of the original characters would be "the demon chestnut". Kage, "deer-color" also means "chestnut." A chestnut horse is Kage-no-uma.
(4) A large portable lantern, having a wooden frame and paper sides. There are andon of many forms, some remarkably beautiful.
Their lives passed from them quickly as dew in the morning from the grass.
And Saburo and his father buried their corpses in the moor
Uwanogahara.