Yes, a blind beggar sat within the hut.
VILLAGER
Aye. That blind beggar is the man you seek,
The very Kagekiyo whom you seek!
How strange! When I said Kagekiyo’s name
That honourable lady there did deign
To show a look of sadness. Why was that?
SERVANT
Thy wonder is most reasonable. Naught
Shall I conceal from thee. Kagekiyo’s
Most honourable daughter is the maid
Who hopes once more her honoured sire to meet.
That being so, and as from far away
She has come hither, I pray thee devise
Some proper way of speaking face to face
With Kagekiyo.
VILLAGER
Oh, unutterable!
Is she his honourable daughter then?
Well, calm your heart, and pray you deign to hear.
The sight of both eyes Kagekiyo lost;
So helpless, he cut short his hair and called
Himself Kōtau of Hiuga and he begs
For his poor living from the travellers,
And with the pity of such lowly folk
As we ourselves, he just sustains his life.
And that he doth not tell his name must be
Shame for the contrast with the olden days.
At once I shall go with you and call out
“Kagekiyo”—and if it is his name
Then will he answer and you can observe
Him face to face, and of the distant past
And of the present you shall tell him all.
Pray come this way.
Holloa! in the thatched hut
Is Kagekiyo there within? Is there
The boisterous Kagekiyo?
KAGEKIYO