Kanpei. Now I can do as I please with you. Shall I run you through, cut you in pieces, or kill you by inches?
Recitative. But Okaru clings to his uplifted sword.
Okaru. No, no, if you kill this fellow, it will spoil your chance of a pardon. That is enough; let him go.
Recitative. As she stops him, Sagisaka wriggles out from under his foot and runs away for very life.
Kanpei. Oh, what a pity I let him go! But if I killed him, it would have been a most disloyal deed. We will, we two, live in hiding for the present, and when the time comes, we will beg for pardon.
Recitative. It is already the sixth hour[6]; and across the streaks of cloud in the whitening east, the crows are flying from out their nests. The lovers hurry on their way; but their hearts are held back by their anxiety for their lord’s fate. Such, alas, is the way of the world.
[ [1]The No-performance is a dramatic posture-dance accompanied by song and music.