CHORUS.
See them, see them clear in the torches’ light
Hither and thither darting,
Those frightened fishes.[111]
Swift pounce the diving birds,
Plunging, scooping,
Ceaselessly clutch their prey:
In the joy of capture
Forgotten sin and forfeit
Of the life hereafter!
Oh if these boiling waters would be still,
Then would the carp rise thick
As goldfinch in a bowl.
Look how the little ayu leap[112]
Playing in the shallow stream.
Hem them in: give them no rest!
Oh strange!
The torches burn still, but their light grows dim;
And I remember suddenly and am sad.
It is the hated moon!
(He throws down the torch.)
The lights of the fishing-boat are quenched;
Homeward on the Way of Darkness[113]
In anguish I depart.
(He leaves the stage.)
PRIEST (sings his “machi-utai” or waiting-song, while the actor who has taken the part of the FISHER changes into the mask and costume of the KING OF HELL.)
I dip my hand in the shallows,
I gather pebbles in the stream.
I write Scripture upon them,
Upon each stone a letter of the Holy Law.
Now I cast them back into the waves and their drowned spell
Shall raise from its abyss a foundered soul.
(Enter YAMA, KING OF HELL; he remains on the hashigakari.)
YAMA.
Hell is not far away:
All that your eyes look out on in the world
Is the Fiend’s home.