Shotoku Taishi ana Princess Parsley

In an early century of this era of our earthly emperors, there abode in a village in
Yamato Province an old dame of direst poverty, a widow with a single daughter of
years twice eight, lovely to look upon and of mien gentle and modest, and withal of
pious habit, who supported them both by daily toil in the rice patch, laboring early
and late to provide her aged parent with food and creature comforts. The latter was
bedridden and palsied, of querulous mood and with a tongue like a razor, driving
the damsel hard with her faultfinding. But the girl made never moan nor protest,
wearing out her sandals in running hither and yon to satisfy the old woman's
lightest wish, to the tune of: "Ingrate and neglectful! Why hast thou done this or
forgot that? Here am I who bore thee, stricken with infirmities, whilst thou thinkest
of naught but thine own ease and diversion!'' Now the old woman's palate was
mightily tickled with wild-parsley soup, which she demanded at all seasons and in all
weathers, sending the damsel forth daily to search out the roots; and when these
were sparse and stringy, she railed and snarled till the fire went out from her chin-
music.

En los primeros tiempos de los Emperadores terrenales vivía en una aldea de la

provincia de Yamato un vieja dama en la pobreza más calamitosa, era viuda y con
una sola hija de 16 años, de una mirada encantadora, y de apariencia apacible y
modesta, además de hábito piadoso, que mantenía el hogar con su trabajo diario
en una pequeña plantación de arroz, trabajaba todos lo días de sol a sol para
proveer los alimentos y las pequeñas comodidades a su vieja madre que estaba
postrada en la cama afectada con paralisis, temblores y frecuentes sacudidas con
un humor sumamente quejumbroso y una lengua como la navaja de afeitar, que
recriminaba a la muchacha sus desdichas. Sin embargo, la joven nunca manifestó
un quejido ni una protesta, En un siglo temprano de esta era de nuestros
emperadores terrenales, allí habitó en una aldea en la provincia de Yamato a vieja
dama de la pobreza más calamitosa, viuda con una sola hija de los años dos veces
ocho, encantadora mirar sobre y de mien apacible y modesto, y withal del hábito
piadoso, que los apoyó ambos por trabajo diario en el remiendo del arroz,
trabajando temprano y proveer tarde de su padre envejecido comodidades del
alimento y de la criatura. El último era postrado en cama y palsied, de humor
querulous y con una lengüeta como una maquinilla de afeitar, conduciendo a la
muchacha difícilmente con su análisis de averías. Pero la muchacha nunca hizo el
quejido ni la protesta, usando fuera de sus sandals en el funcionamiento aquí y el
yon para satisfacer el deseo más ligero de la vieja mujer, por una suma de: ¡"Ingrate
y neglectful! ¿Por qué mil del hast hecho esto o se olvidó de eso? Aquí estoy que
agujerea thee, pulsado con enfermedades, mientras que mil ma's thinkest de nada
pero el thine posee facilidad y la diversión!' ' Ahora el paladar de la vieja mujer fue
cosquilleado poderosamente con la sopa del salvaje-perejil, que ella exigió en todas
las estaciones y en todos los tiempos, enviando el damsel adelante diariamente a la
búsqueda hacia fuera las raíces; y cuando éstos eran escasos y fibrosos, ella cercó
con barandilla y grunió hasta que el fuego salió de su barbilla-mu'sica.

One morning, with her own stomach as empty as a soap bubble, the damsel set
before her mother the last bowl of millet in the bin. But the dame thrust it aside,
saying: "How shall I down thy unsavory mess? If thou hadst a thought for my
condition, thou wouldst go to the hillside and pluck me more wild parsley, for I
warrant the slopes are thick with it." The girl answered: "O honored one, I will do
so gladly, though the sprigs are hard to find. Yet it may be that I shall find a few.''
Said the complaining one: "I warrant thou wilt search one hour and frolic two, leav -
ing me to tighten my obi meanwhile." But the damsel replied: "Nay, mother mine,
though the Emperor himself passed by, he should not come betwixt me and my
quest." And she took a basket of twisted osier twigs and went forth to her task.

Now the highroad curved about the base of the hill on which she sought the
succulent sprays, and she beheld gathered beside it the whole concourse of the
villagers, her neighbors, who gave her greeting, saying: "Stay thou here with us, for
presently the Prince Shotoku will pass, going to his palace at Asuka, with all his
suite and retainers, and a brave sight it will be!" Asked she : "Who is he?" They an-
swered her: ' 'He is the Heir Apparent of this realm and the wisest man in these
Great Eight Islands. Knowest thou not his name ?'' She replied: '' No. Why deem ye
him so wise ?''

Now a holy man stood among them, and he said to her: "O damsel, the Prince
Imperial whose passing we wait to honor is he who hath established in this land the
blessed knowledge of the Lord Buddha, for which all folk revere him. Many and
great miracles are related of him—how Kannon, the Diamond-of-Pity, appeared to
his mother the Empress in a dream, and saying to her, 'Thou shalt bring forth one
who shall be a savior to this people,' entered into her mouth; and at that instant the
Empress knew her womb quickened. When her time was come, she bore this son,
who spoke in his fourth moon and at one year of age knelt facing the east and
repeated a Namu Amida Butsu, and when he opened his clasped palms, lo, there
lay betwixt them the very pupil of Shaka's left eye, which is now en cased in one of
the holy images in the monastery of Horyu

Temple which he lately builded. When he attained the age of twice three, there
came from Chosen the sage Nichira to give him instruction, and while they held
converse together their bodies shed light like to lanterns. Moreover, Shotoku had
knowledge of both past and future. It is told that he once entered into his sleeping
chamber and barred its door and came not forth till after seven sun-rounds; and
when he issued therefrom, he bore a scroll whereon was writ the history of all his
past existences, which scroll his spirit had fetched in that interval from the Middle
Kingdom."

Said the damsel: "Great he is, no doubt, and wise ex-< ceeding and holy beyond
measure, but as for me, I go to pluck wild parsley for my mother and may not stay."
And so saying, she went on to the hillside to find the herbs.

Presently, along came the procession, ministers and courtiers on horseback, and
men-at-arms marching burari-furari, and ladies in bullock carts and palanquins, and
an army of servitors, prideful in crested emblems, with banners waving hira-hira;
and in their midst rode Prince Shotoku on a prancing horse, and all the village folk
made obeisance as he passed.
 Now the Prince's eye, roving over the prostrate ones, lighted on the girl on the
meadowed slope above, plucking her herbs with her back turned toward him, and
he halted his progress and said to his Chief Counselor, who rode beside him: "Go to
the damsel yonder and ask of her why she alone of this multitude contemneth my
progress." So the! dignitary strode to where she delved and, presently returning,
made report: "O Heir of the Sole Highest, she saith, with all respect, that she hath
an aged and bedridden mother whose mouth this morning watered for parsley
soup, so that she came hither to pluck the wild roots. To be deemed to have
affronted thy great dignity is a poison to her spirit, but although to thee she oweth
fealty and obedience, she hath been taught that filial duty cometh before vassal
duty.'' Said the Prince: ' 'Truly, she is a maid of wisdom and intelligence!'' And he bade
the cavalcade proceed.
But when his stay at Asuka was finished and his return to the Capital at hand, he
called his Chief Counselor and said to him: '' Go in advance to the village of the
damsel who picked the parsley on the hillside and say to her that the Heir Apparent
of the realm purposeth to visit her esteemed dwelling of piety the day after
tomorrow at nooning, when he bespeaketh of her hospitality a mat to sit upon and a
bowl of wild-parsley soup."

Accordingly the minister commanded a palanquin and bearers and forewent the
cavalcade dotsu-dotsu-dotsu to the village and sought out its headman, who at sight
of the banners and armed escort prostrated himself in the dust before his doorstep
with all his family. Said the minister: "I would have speech with a certain damsel
who was recently plucking parsley on the hill-slope near this honorable settlement
at the time when my master, the very noble Shotoku Taishi, deigned to make his
imperial progress to his palace at Asuka. Hast thou, perchance, heard of the oc-
currence?" The headman replied: "Aye, verily! None of this place is like to forget it,
considering that by her act she flouted fair custom and the obligations of courtesy
and brought shame upon us all. But she hath been well punished, since she hath
ever since been as a pariah Eta among us, spurned by high and low, who call her in
derision Princess Parsley." Said the other: "Guide me to her cottage." So the
headman conducted the minister's palanquin to where on the village-skirt sat the
tumble-down hovel in which the damsel lived.

The minister knocked upon the doorpost. She was within, tending her mother, and
when she came out and beheld the gilded litter and the panoply of its retinue and
the great man in his court robes, she was frightened and made obeisance
trembling. Said the minister: "My master, Heir to the Rule Eternal, biddeth me say
to thee that on the second sun-round from this he intendeth to pass this place,
when he will be pleased to partake with thee of a bowl of parsley soup." At this, joy
filled her heart, and she said: "It will be ready." And the minister took his
departure and returned to the palace.

As for the headman, however, he hugged himself in delight, deeming the

message sent in irony, and went out and cried it to the village, saying: "Behold, the
baggage hath received her deserts! We should stone her from the place with her
mother on her back and burn her dwelling!" But, though greatly troubled, they knew
the damsel to be pious and pure-hearted, and they said: "Nay, doubtless the Prince
was affronted and is righteously angered; nevertheless, we will not add to the weight
of her calamity." The damsel knew naught of this, however, and on the morning of the
third day she rose at dawn-light and lugged her basket to the slope and filled it with
wild parsley; and she made soup therewith and set it in a covered pot over the fire-
hole, after which she swept the mean hut and garnished it with flowers. Then she
went out and bought with her meager savings a new mat of white rice-straw and laid
it before the alcove, and sat herself down all aglow to wait the arrival of her guest.

Now this day, as before, the villagers flocked to the highroad to witness the
passing, and to their wonderment they beheld the train turn aside and proceed to
the shabby cottage of the damsel. So they all hastened thither and prostrated
themselves about it, round-eyed with amazement to see the damsel do obeisance
to the Prince on the threshold.

There Shotoku greeted her and the dame in all courtesy, and, seating himself on the
new mat, said: "O honorable damsel, hast thou the parsley soup for me ?'' She
answered: "Great Lord, it is prepared." And she fetched her best bowl and filled it
from the pot and gave it to him. Said he: "Hast thou sufficient also for this aged one
and thyself?" She replied: "There is a plenty." So she brought other bowls and
gave one to the old woman and took one herself, and the three ate together. When
he had finished his portion, the Prince said: ' 'Thy skill in cooking is second only to
thy piety, for better parsley soup I have never tasted." Then he conversed with her
upon this matter and that, finding her mind well stored, and his admiration
increased no less at her wisdom and intelligence than at her modesty and
loveliness.

So at length he said to the old dame: "I give thee joy of this maiden, whom I find
surpassing in body and in spirit and a mate fit for any. Wilt thou give her to me to
wife?" To which, in awe of his high estate and shame of her own condition, she
answered: "How shouldst thou who, under the Sole Highest, art the noblest in this
empire desire this slattern of mine, who is the sole prop of my years and the only
one to gather me my wild parsley?" Said he: "Thou shalt be provided for even so far
as that. Wilt thou give her to me?" She answered: "Yes." Then he said to the dam-
sel: "Art thou of a mind to this?" And for answer she bowed before him, hiding her
flushed face with her sleeve. Whereupon the Prince farewelled them and, going
forth to his train, went on to the Capital.

Hardly were they out of sight when the old woman began to moan, saying: "What
have I done? I have given my daughter away, and though he saith I shall have
parsley, how am I to get it?" So she abode moaning and complain ing gami-gami till
the headman came in. Hearing what had transpired, he cried: "O pestiferous froth-
bubble! Hast thou no conception of the glory that is about to descend upon thy
house?" Said she: "Can one make soup of glory? Who is to bring me my parsley?"
Exclaimed he: "May it choke thy gullet!'' And he went out and told the people, and
they rejoiced abundantly at the honor bestowed upon their village.

As for the damsel, she could scarce believe what had happened, seeing herself
lifted from opprobrium and become the recipient of felicitation, and when there
came from the Capital a train of gold-lacquered palanquins, with attendant ladies
and men-at-arms to bear her to her new estate, she was in two minds as to
whether she waked or slept. So they clad her in gracious robes and she went in
state to the Prince, who received her with joy and satisfaction, and their bridal was
such as is seen but once in a century. Of all his wives she was the Prince's favorite
and bore him many children and was loved by all the folk, who never ceased to call
her, in affection, the Princess of the Parsley Field.

And it is told that Shotoku Taishi built for her mother a splendid mansion in Asuka
Village, and set about it parsley beds thick-planted, and assigned her ten
husbandmen to rear the herbs which were her delight, so that she had no lack of
parsley soup to the end of her span. As for the damsel, she abode in all happiness
with her lord for many years as his consort, and when the thread of his existence
severed, she changed her world that same sun-round, and they were buried in the
self-same tomb.
TALES FROM THE JAPANESE STORYTELLERS
SHOTOKU TAISHI AND PRINCESS PARSLEY
TALES FROM THE JAPANESE STORYTELLERS
6
SHOTOKU TA1SHI AND PRINCESS PARSLEY
TALES FROM THE JAPANESE STORYTELLERS
THE DAIMYO AND THE BULLOCKS