USHIWAKA.
Then Ushiwaka said,
“I will make game of him,” and as Benkei passed
Kicked at the button of his halberd so that it jerked into the air.
BENKEI (cries out in surprise).
Ah! fool, I will teach you a lesson!
CHORUS.
Then Benkei while he retrieved his halberd
Cried out in anger,
“You shall soon feel the strength of my arm,” and fell fiercely upon him.
But the boy, not a jot alarmed,
Stood his ground and with one hand pulled aside his cloak,
While with the other he quietly drew his sword from the scabbard
And parried the thrust of the halberd that threatened him.
Again and again he parried the halberd’s point.
And so they fought, now closing, now breaking.
What shall Benkei do? For when he thinks that he has conquered,
With his little sword the boy thrusts the blow aside.
Again and again Benkei strikes.
Again and again his blows are parried,
Till at last even he, mighty Benkei,
Can do battle no longer.
Disheartened he steps back the space of a few bridge-beams.
“Monstrous,” he cries, “that this stripling ... No, it cannot be.
He shall not outwit my skill.”
And holding out his halberd at full length before him
He rushed forward and dealt a mighty blow.
But Ushiwaka turned and dived swiftly to the left.
Benkei recovered his halberd and slashed at the boy’s skirts;
But he, unfaltering, instantly leapt from the ground.
And when he thrust at the boy’s body,
Then Ushiwaka squirmed with head upon the ground.
Thus a thousand, thousand bouts they fought,
Till the halberd fell from Benkei’s weary hands.
He would have wrestled, but the boy’s sword flashed before him,
And he could get no hold.
Then at his wits’ end, “Oh, marvellous youth!”
Benkei cried, and stood dumbfounded.
CHORUS.
Who are you that, so young and frail, possess such daring? Tell us your name and state.
USHIWAKA.
Why should I conceal it from you? I am Minamoto Ushiwaka.