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Read Ebook: The Vampire Cat A Play in one act from the Japanese legend of the Nabeshima cat by Etten Gerard Van
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Ebook has 160 lines and 7785 words, and 4 pages
BUZEN. But the cause of her turning?
RUITEN. Turned she startled-- Turned she slowly-- Turned she wonderingly?
PRINCE. Slowly, as if she felt A strange presence.
RUITEN. Feared she?
PRINCE. She left me.
BUZEN. But trembling or calm?
PRINCE. Calmly, as from a thing hated And more powerful than she Whom she would not rouse to action.
BUZEN. Good.
PRINCE. What is good?
BUZEN. That which thou speakest of.
PRINCE. How so?
BUZEN. It proves that I have humbly succeeded-- Through the help of another, 'tis true-- But yet succeeded in bringing my lord honorable help.
RUITEN. Indeed it is so.
PRINCE. Say on, very wise councillor.
BUZEN. Without more words than are fit This then is the way of the cure. When long had thine illness ravaged and worn thee And many nights had you tossed by weird visions enthralled, No cures affecting, no prayers availing thee Then councilled I with thy wise ones-- And, too, with Priest Ruiten--
RUITEN. I, you should name first, For without my prayers your wisdom was nought.
BUZEN. To continue briefly. All our heads together brought no solution--
PRINCE. True, true.
BUZEN. Humbly I acknowledge my head Empty and brainless. Yet even from idiots lips Wisdom oft falls unexpected And therefore more wonderful. Now it is told in old tales Of how Iyaiyasu met--
RUITEN. Short, abrupt is thy tale.
PRINCE. The cure, Sir Buzen, The hour passes.
BUZEN. I crave honorable leniency. To be brief--
PRINCE. Aye, brief.
PRINCE. And he, too, has watched the two nights past?
RUITEN. Aye, and he slept not Though the samurai were heavy with sleep-fumes.
BUZEN. I will tell.
RUITEN. You are honorably hoarse. He slept not, as I say--
PRINCE. How kept he awake? Since many slept spell-bound How broke he the spell?
PRINCE. Indeed this is no common soldier, This Ito Soda.
BUZEN. Indeed not--
RUITEN. To continue--
BUZEN. As I was saying, oh Prince, His eyes never closed. During the Reign of the Rat He heard, in this room, O Toyo Tossing and moaning As if in great fear of something She could not escape from. Even at the same moment As the beginnings of her moanings Came a cat-call from the garden-- Then nearer--then ghostly paddings As of padded claws on matting, And an evil presence seemed hovering And lurking near in the darkness. O Toyo gave a low scream--than all was silence. Soon she came stealthily Through the shoji--cat-like her step-- Glassy her eyes-- Claw-like her hands-- Bent she over you with curled lips-- Then she turned, even as you have said, And, seeing a waking watcher, Left as she came.
RUITEN. The second night of Ito Soda's watching She threatened him in low words But he made as to stab her And she melted before him Laughing a little. And he heard the rustle of her garments As she regained this room Though he saw not her passage hither.
PRINCE. Thicker with each word the horror about me. Doubts to beliefs--beliefs to actions-- Love unto hate. Tell me it is not O Toyo.
BUZEN. I questioned her maid, Kashiku, And found that O Toyo's couch Was empty even at the time Of the weird visit to thee.
PRINCE. So, it was O Toyo! In the soul of a flower, a demon-- On the sweet lips, poison.
BUZEN. There is only one course--
RUITEN. The one road--
PRINCE. And I take it!
BUZEN. The samurai are gathered.
PRINCE. Summon Ito Soda.
RUITEN. Hard is the fate of man Here on this dark earth. Many the shapes and the shadows Stalking abroad. Yet ever the gentle Buddha From the Lotus Fields watches And guards every life that lives.
PRINCE. Priest, have not many Vampires bleeding them And dream it is another thing?
RUITEN. The soul is often a vampire to the body.
PRINCE. And that evil thing must we kill.
ITO SODA. Honorable Prince, humbly I answer thy summons.
PRINCE. Rise, Ito Soda. Faithful beyond words art thou, This know I as all hath been told me. No longer call thyself a common soldier But a samurai of the Prince of Hizen. And the two swords will I give thee on the morrow.
ITO SODA. On my knees I humbly thank thee.
PRINCE. Now time presses. O Toyo will be coming In from the garden. As usual shall the hundred sleepy samurai Guard my couch. Let Ito Soda Remain here hidden and watchful. When O Toyo rises to enter my chamber-- Your dirk is sharp, Ito Soda?
ITO SODA. As a moonbeam on a cold night.
PRINCE. And you know how to use it.
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