TSUNEYO.
Stuck through his tattered, his old side-sewn sash,
His rusty sword sags and trails,—yet he undaunted,
“My Lord, I have come.”
(He bows before the Throne.)
PRIEST.
Ha! He has come, Tsuneyo of Sano!
Have you forgotten the priest whom once you sheltered from the snowstorm? You have been true to the words that you spoke that night at Sano:
“If at any time there came news from the City of peril to our master
Then broken though it be, I would gird this armour on,
And rusty though it be, I would hold this tall spear,
And bony though he be, I would mount my horse and ride
Neck by neck with the swiftest.”
These were not vain words; you have come valiantly. But know that this levy of men was made to this purpose: to test the issue of your words whether they were spoken false or true; and to hear the suits of all those that have obeyed my summons, that if any among them have suffered injury, his wrongs may be righted.
And first in the case of Tsuneyo, I make judgment. To him shall be returned his lawful estate, thirty parishes in the land of Sano.
But above all else one thing shall never be forgotten, that in the great snowstorm he cut down his trees, his treasure, and burnt them for firewood. And now in gratitude for the three trees of that time,—plum, cherry and pine,—we grant to him three fiefs, Plumfield in Kaga, Cherrywell in Etchū and Pine-branch in Kōzuke.