Free The Heike Story by Eiji Yoshikawa Page B

himself. Why should he let a shadow be cast over his father again? Pondering thus to himself, Kiyomori found that the horse had led him almost to Imadegawa, and decided to speak to his father after all.
     
    "Father, did you know that my mother was at the races?"
     
    "So it seemed."
     
    "I did not really want to see her again, but she called to me so that I finally went to her."
     
    "You did?" said Tadamori, narrowing his eyes and scrutinizing his son. He did not seem displeased, so Kiyomori continued half apologetically:
     
    "She looked as young as ever, decked out like a shrine virgin or a lady-in-waiting. But I had no tears for her. I could not feel that she was my mother."
     
    "I'm sorry to hear that, Heita," was Tadamori's quiet reply.
     
    "Why, Father?"
     
    "There's nothing so pitiful as a motherless child, Heita. That you should see her and yet force yourself to disown your mother was most callous."
     
    "I am your son. I can get along without a mother!" Kiyomori said hotly.
     
    The figure on horseback shook his head. "You are wrong, Heita. If anyone has hardened your heart, then the fault is mine, for I have let my children look upon our incessant quarrels in a loveless home. It was I that let your mother appear unsightly to you. It was my fault. It is unnatural for a son to feel as you do. Be frank, Heita, if you wish to see your mother, go and visit her."
     
    "How can that woman be my mother? She has been unfaithful to her husband, and does not love her children, and thinks of nothing but satisfying her whims!" Kiyomori protested.
     
    "You must not speak of her as I have been prone to do, Heita. You have little reason to say such things of her. You and she are forever mother and child. Love that forgives all is the truest love and will surely bring you together."
     
    Kiyomori did not answer. He could not understand his father. Was it because his father was too profound, or was he himself still too young to understand?
     
    When they reached their home, Mokunosukй, Heiroku, and the other retainers met them at the gate. Lights flickered over the unkempt garden and the modest clean-swept, wooden stoop of the house. This simple, harmonious, and well-ordered life had not been theirs until three months ago. Kiyomori wondered what reason he had to regret his mother's going. There was no room for loneliness now, and why could his father not believe this?
     
     

CHAPTER IV
     
     
    A LADY IN THE MOONLIGHT
     
    That year, in mid-August, Wataru of the Genji invited some ten of his closest friends in the Guards to come and share a large jar of wine with him and view the moonlight in his garden. His friends, however, knew that there was another reason for the invitation. In the autumn the Emperor and the ex-Emperor were going on a pilgrimage to the Ninna-ji Temple. They were also attending the races which would be held in the temple compound. The official date of this event had already been announced—the 23rd of September—and the Guards knew that Wataru was waiting impatiently for a chance to prove himself and the black four-year-old with the white fetlocks.
     
    "It's to drink to his success," Wataru's friends told each other. One of them jokingly added: "He's afraid to appear stingy, since it's customary for riders to give a large party for relatives and friends after the 'whip ritual' has been performed. Wataru has no love for these priests. He scoffs at those 'holy Buddhas,' as he calls them, saying he doesn't need their help. So instead of all the prayers and incantations, and a big banquet, he calls this a moon-viewing party!" The remark was greeted with much laughter.
     
    Another Guard said: "Listen, you know how he feels about his young wife, Kesa-Gozen, who once served at Court. He is so infatuated with her that even on night duty all his thoughts are at home. We once asked to meet her, but all he would do was smile and say she was his 'secret love' and not to be seen, and so forth. I think he wants us